


Biology 101

by Kaiel



Series: Family is a choice [1]
Category: Doctor Who, The Magnus Archives
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Chameleon Arch, Fix It Fic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Psychic Bonds, SO MUCH FLUFF, Telepathy, Time Lord Biology, Time Travel, eldritch interdimentional beings, i swear it has a happy ending eventually, post 160
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 62,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23059492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaiel/pseuds/Kaiel
Summary: Jon Sims was not human. Jon Sims has never been human, but he was beginning to be ok with that.The Jon Sims is a Time Lord AU that no one asked for. Knowledge of Doctor Who not required.
Relationships: Jon Sims/Martin Blackwood
Series: Family is a choice [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701502
Comments: 516
Kudos: 664
Collections: Identity Crisis





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Un-betaed I haven’t written fanfiction in literal years, so please excuse me if this is trash, this is entirely self indulgent, and entirely because I was watching a lot of doctor who while I was finished TMA, I will add tags as I write.

It was about a week into their new cohabitation in Scotland that Martin noticed it. Jon hadn’t had a statement since they had left the institute, and was having an increasingly difficult time of it. Martin was really doing much better, probe to snapping, and getting overwhelmed as he fought off the lingering effects of spending so much time in the Lonely. Thankfully they had discovered that there was one thing that seemed to help both of them. And that was cuddling. Martin laying on top of Jon, the pressure helping him resist the urge to go out and hunt- he Knew in the local village there were three people he could take a statement from, but if he was physically unable to get up and take them, he was able to relax. 

Martin on the other hand had found physical contact in any degree comforting. It was during one of the lazy afternoons that they found themselves in the favourite position that Martin noticed it. He had laid his head on Jon’s chest, listening to his heart beat, but there was something wrong. 

“Jon, are you ok?” Martin could feel the vibration through Jon’s chest as he hummed. 

“Yes Martin I believe so, why?” Martin looked up at him, growing more concerned. 

“Your heart doesn’t sound right. Either it’s beating way too fast and out of time or you have two of them.” That got Jon’s attention, he started to push himself up, and Martin rolled off of him and the couch to sit on the ground beside him as Jon pushed himself up. 

“Well, that’s, thats probably not a good thing.” Jon said after a while. “I don’t think it’s beating overly quickly either” he added cautiously. “So I suppose, it must me the later.” 

“I’m getting Daisys first aid kit.” Martin said after a pause. Daisys first aid kit was perhaps better thought of as an emergency triage kit. It was probably better stocked then the standard ambulance. Which meant it included an old heart rate monitor; and a stethoscope. Upon listening intently to Jon’s chest for a few tense moments, Martin silently passed the stethoscope to Jon. After listening to his own chest a while Jon sighed.

“I always figured if the Beholding was going to change me it would be to grow extra eyes or something. This doesn’t really make sense, unless the Flesh got a hold of me when I wasn’t paying attention.” But Jon already Knew as he said that it wasn’t the case. 

“I mean, what do we really know about what being an avatar means? There could be all kinds of changes on a biological level that we aren’t aware of.” Jon sighed again and rubbed his hands over his face. 

“Just one more thing to prove I’m not human I suppose.” Martin took Jon’s hands in his. 

“Hey, I don’t love you any less cuz you’ve got two hearts. But we should probably try and figure out if there are any other differences- better not to have any more surprises.” Jon took a deep breath and nodded. 

“Your right, but but can we do it tomorrow?” Martin smiled. 

“Yeah tomorrow sounds good.” 

***

The trouble was, neither of them really knew anything about human biology, let alone what Avatar biology was supposed to be. So the next day saw them walking down to the towns tiny library and checking out as many anatomy books as they could find. Thankfully as the librarian of a small town Judith knew better then to question what someone was checking out, and she knew better then to go around gossiping about it. But she did wonder about the two strange Englishmen that had taken up residence in her town. The 12 books on human anatomy they checked out did nothing to stop her wondering either. 

Jon and Martin didn’t actually get to reading the books until halfway through the afternoon. Having been distracted by a few calf’s playing in the field on their way home. 

Jon has no problem diving directly in, and consuming the books at, what Martin though was a frankly ridiculous speed, Martin had never been a fast reader though. Watching Jon reading was interesting. He read with the same intensity that he recorded statements with. Actually he even seemed to look a tiny bit healthier when he was reading then he had before.

“Jon, does reading help with the-“ Martin waved his hand in a vague pattern he hoped conveyed that he meant the “all powerful eldritch being that we are bound to” Jon hummed. 

“Not exactly. It’s a bit like, like when your hungry but you drink water to feel full.” Martin nodded. That he understood, having done so enough times growing up in a single income household. He reached out and grabbed Jon’s hand. Jon smiled slightly before looking back at his book and continuing to read. Martin couldn’t help the find smile watching Jon get so absorbed. It felt like a secret window into the Jon from before, before the institute and the Fears. Martin could admit as far as anatomy textbooks he was very little help. But with Jon’s hand in his, and the slight wrinkle that Jon got between his brows when he was focusing, Martin couldn’t bring himself to regret it. 

***

They didn’t actually get around to testing anything until a full day later. Martin suggested they start with the easiest thing. Seeing how long Jon could hold his breath. At 5 minutes, Martin was impressed. It was still within theoretic human range- so no cause for concern yet. At 10 minutes Martin was concerned. Jon was honestly relieved when at 13 minutes he began to feel a familiar tightness in his chest, and a mild panicky feeling demanding he take a breath. It may not be human to be able to hold his breath for nearly 14 minutes, but it felt good to have a firm limit. Jon wondered what it said about him that he was clinging to such a fragile hope of humanity, and decided he probably didn’t want to know. 

Martin noted the time down in a notebook, they had mutually decided that recording the results on one of the 23 tape recorders that had so far appeared would be a bad idea. Though, as soon as they had started the experiment Jon had heard one of them click on and begin its gentle whirring. 

There really weren’t a lot of experiments they could preform without proper equipment, though, they did hook Jon up to the heart rate monitor- which promptly displayed an error message. 

“Well I guess this explains why you didn’t appear to have a proper heart beat when you were in a coma.” Martin offer while they stared at the angrily beeping machine. 

“It’s really too bad I never got to know any of the sectioned staff at the hospital. I suspect this would be a great deal easier with a doctor we could trust.” 

“Yeah, not like we’d be able to call them out here anyway though, not in daisys murder cabin with no phone service.” Jon smiled. 

“You just miss being able to watch cat videos on YouTube.” Martin put a hand to his chest in mock offence.

“I am shocked you think so little of me! Just for that I’m making mild curry tonight instead of spicy!” The two continued on like that as Jon followed Martin into the kitchen. Good natured ribbing it felt nice, safe somehow. Jon’s hand found its way into his pocket and he fingered his lighter absent mindedly while basking in the joy that it was to watch Martin cook- if he was lucky Martin would start singing as he chopped the vegetables.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s a short chapter, but the interesting bits will be coming soon I promise. Still un-betaed, but whatever. Again it’s been years since I’ve written Fanfiction so please be kind.

Chapter 2

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. She loved her Fam, she really did, but sometimes she needed a break too. Not to mention, there was a planet with species that communicated solely through interpretive dance that she wanted to check out- make sure it was safe for the Fam before she brought them there. She didn’t have the best track record of safe adventures and the places she checked out ahead of time tended to go a lot more smoothly then the spontaneous adventures. 

Not that those weren’t fun too, but the last trip had had a few too many close calls and she figured something fun and silly would be a good idea for the next few trips. She hadn’t left the 21st century yet and has just punched in the coordinates when she felt a sharp spike of psychic energy. 

“Well that cant be good.” There shouldn’t be any psychics that strong in this time period, not strong enough to break through her shielding at any rate. Though she did have to admit that since the destruction of Gallifrey and subsequently the only species that was strong enough to break through her shields she hadn’t really been as militant about maintaining them as she should have been. 

She checked her psychic paper, hoping that whoever was responsible for the spike had managed to leave the psychic equivalent of a voice message. 

“Bingo” 

‘A Doctor we can trust’

Well, she figured if someone was in trouble she probably fit that descriptor. She wasted no time connecting the psychic paper to the TARDIS systems to locate the source of the signal. Whoever sent it was lucky they were so close she thought when she saw it originated from Scotland. If she had been much further away it likely wouldn’t have penetrated her shields. 

Well, no harm in a quick stopover before heading over to the dancing planet. It was probably some poor alien who’s craft crash landed just trying to get home. Her luck was never that good, but you never knew, maybe it would be this time?

She landed the TARDIS in an open field near a small cottage. It was ten am the next day according to the TARDIS’s read outs, so she wasn’t too far off from the time the signal originated. All things considered not bad. The signal hadn’t sounded urgent at any rate, just loud and untrained. She loaded the coordinates on her sonic, and it appeared the signal had come from the small cottage, the Doctor locked the TARDIS door and happily wandered up to the front door and gave it a knock. It was a nice door, solid wood. She could appreciate a nice door. The iron bands gave it a charmingly rustic look. She stopped her mind from wandering as it slowly began to open, halted by a chain. 

“Hello! I’m the Doctor.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bold is Jon compelling people 
> 
> Not a long chapter, but I got so excited seeing all the comments the two I had already posted got, well I couldn’t help myself. Hopefully I should have another chapter done today or tomorrow. My laptop is currently out of commission so I’m writing this on my phone so be kind about spelling mistakes 😋

Chapter 3

The door slammed shut in her face, which was, well not entirely unexpected if she was being honest. That seemed to be the usually response to her showing up unexpectedly. She stuck her ear to the door to listen in on the other side. She could hear furious whispering, though it was quiet enough she couldn’t make it out, and she felt a spike of psychic panic momentarily piece through her shields before she strengthened them. She pulled away from the door when she heard footsteps approach it and the handle beginning to turn. 

The door creeped open on well oiled hinges, and the Doctor her the distinct sound of static, or, not heard, it was more like she felt the psychic equivalent to the sound of static. 

“ ** What do you want? ** ” The compulsion in the words was kind of tingly, very untrained, and reminded her distinctly of talking to a telepathic toddler who had just figured out how to make sure they got someone’s attention. It was like the telepathic equivalent to shouting very loudly and shaking a person. She imagined it must be an even more unpleasant experience to a non telepathic species. 

“I’m here to help!” She said cheerfully, just because the person behind the door was trying to compel her, didn’t necessarily mean that they meant her harm. If her original theory was correct and they just ended up here by mistake they were probably far more scared of her then she needed to be of them. “I got a message?” She pulled out the psychic paper and passed it through the crack in the door. 

Jon cautiously took the proffered paper and nearly dropped it in shock. 

“Jon that’s your handwriting!” Martin whispered furiously beside him, gripping a baseball bat white knuckled. 

“I don’t- I never- Martin I didn’t write this.” The panic was creeping into Jon’s voice now. 

The Doctor felt the static rise again. 

“ **Where- How did you get this**? ”

“It’s psychic paper, you sent me a message, and here I am, I’m the Doctor, you asked for a Doctor. “ She shrugged. “Here I am.” The static began to rise again.“Hey your the telepath that sent the message in the first place, don’t get mad at me for responding.” There was more furious whispering. 

“ **Are you alone**? ” 

“Yes, and there’s really no need for that, I’m just here to help.” The Doctor really hoped the entire interaction wasn’t going to be shouted like this, she was beginning to get a headache even with her shields up. Not to mention the distinctive feeling that something was watching her. More whispering. Finally the door was closed and there was the sound of a chain sliding out of a lock before it was reopened. The man before her was covered head to toe in scars and clutched an old fashioned tape recorder like it was a brick to bash her head in with. Behind him stood a much larger man, poised with a baseball bat ready to strike. 

“ **Who sent you**? ” The static was more potent now that she was closer. 

“You did, like I said I got a message. I’m here to help.” The two before her exchanged a look. “You know it’s rude not to introduce yourselves, here I’ve told you my name, the Doctor,” she pointed to herself. “But I still have no idea who you two are. 

“You mean you don’t know?” The one with the baseball bat asked. 

“Nope!” She said brightly. “Not a clue.” Jon and Martin looked at each other again. 

“I-I’m going time to make some tea.” He said finally. 

“Oh! Lovely two sugars three milk!” The Doctor said walking past the two into the sitting area. She pulled out her sonic and began idly scanning the cottage. “That’s odd, nothing here out of the ordinary,” she scanned a tape recorder on the coffee table that appeared to have turned on on its own. “Ok, that’s a bit unordinary.” She turned back to the scarred man at the door. He just stared at her. 

“Your name?” She prompted again. 

“Jonathon Sims. The Archivist.” It seemed like a sort of automatic response. 

“Right well good to meet you Jon!” She held out her hand to shake, saw the scarring on his own hand when he didn’t respond and gave a funny little bow instead. 

Jon was at an absolute loss, he Knew the woman was an alien, and he was having a very hard time reconciling that fact, with the tiny suspender wearing being before him. The Eye seemed to be very insistent that she was not to be trusted, but Jon also knew that trusting the Eye to know what was best resulted in things like not finding out how to leave the institute. Objectively if the Eye didn’t want Jon to trust her he probably should. But, one last question. 

“ **Who do you work for**? ” The Doctor, though quickly growing tired of the psychic maelstrom surrounding Jon, thought she understood that her answer to the question would very thoroughly shape their interaction going forward. 

“I don’t work for anybody. I’m just a traveller.” That seemed to lift an enormous weight off the atmosphere of the room, which was of course when Jon collapsed. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the comments they mean the world to me. This will be the last chapter for tonight, I’ll probably post more tomorrow.

Chapter 4

The Doctor leapt forward to catch him, and heard something clatter in the kitchen so assumed the other man was doing the same. She swung the unconscious man into her arms in a bridal carry, he weighed practically nothing. 

“Put him on the couch.” The Doctor moved to do so. 

“Ok do you know when the last time he ate was-“ she let a space hang reaching for his name. 

“Uh Martin.”

“Do you know when the last time he ate was Martin?” The question seemed to paint a pained and guilty expression on the young mans face, so the Doctor assumed it was a complicated answer. She absent mindedly pulled a stethoscope out of one of her coat pockets to listen the the unconscious man’s heart rate and breathing. 

“Wait don’t!” Martin’s panicked cry came a bit too late, she had already heard it. The familiar double heart beat. 

“Huh.” She lifted Jon’s shoulders so she could place the stethoscope on his back to listen to his breathing and- Yep, That was a respiratory bypass. Jonathon Sims, Archivist- was a Time Lord. 

Which answered the question of how he had managed to break down her mental shields, but also brought up all sorts of new questions of how the heck he was here when the last she knew Gallifrey was gone. Beyond the Master who occasionally popped up like a particularly unpleasant penny as far as she knew she was the only Time Lord. But apparently she had been wrong. 

“Martin.” Seeing the horrified panic on the young mans face, she figured she should probably calm him down some. “Martin I need to you relax, go and get a cup of tea for Jon here, that should help. It’s ok, he’s going to be fine his hearts are beating strong and healthy and there’s nothing obstructing his respiratory system, I think he just over taxed himself. So strong tea. There’s a good man.” She added as he finally went to the kitchen. 

“Sorry Jon, is ask your consent if I could, but kind of an emergency situation, basic telepathy shouldn’t drain you like that- even using it as strongly as you were-“ she very carefully put her fingers on his temples and closed her eyes probing gently at the edges of his mind. Only to quickly recoil in shock. There was a bond active in his mind, but not a healthy parent/child bond or even a life partner bond like she expected to find between him and Martin, this bond was a corrupted ugly thing. A perversion of all the things a psychic bond should be, and it was feeding on him. Sucking him dry while boosting his psychic abilities far beyond what they should be for his age. No wonder he had passed out! All of his natural abilities were being filtered through the parasite. His brain was starved for psychic stimulation but the parasite only seemed to want one thing, and it seemed to be preventing him from gaining any kind of psychic stimulation in anyway except trauma. 

She felt him beginning to rise back to wakefulness and withdrew. Some tea would help to a point, but she needed to detach that parasite and soon, or at least give it something to eat to buy them more time. Jon wouldn’t last much longer like this. She was honestly surprised he had had enough in him to send the call for help in the first place. She heard Martin clear his throat behind her. 

“Tea?” He said cautiously. Martin has no idea what to make of the mad woman, Jon has said he thought she was an alien- which was crazy, but he’d also said it in that voice that meant he Knew it, not just knew it. So who’s to say. 

“Perfect put it down on the table there, the smell should help him wake up some, but then he needs to feed that parasite of his or there wont be much left.” Martin froze. He had never heard the Eye referred to as a parasite, but he supposed that’s exactly what it was. 

To the Doctor Martin looked rather like a deer in the headlights. 

“How do you know about that?” He asked, putting the tea on the side table close to Jon, who gave a quiet moan. 

“I’m psychic too.” She tapped her head and Martin was left feeling confused, Jon wasn’t psychic, or, well maybe he was- they’d just never called it that. Honestly thinking of Jon’s Beholding abilities as psychic powers almost made them seem, normal? Less scary at any rate. “Now what do you usually feed it? Cuz it’s been there a long time, I’ve never seen something so deeply intwined so you must be feeding it something or else Jon would be dead.” Which was a sobering thought. 

“St-statements he eats statements, um-“ he probably shouldn’t be saying this, but she seemed to know something about Jon’s hearts, and she didn’t work for any of the entities, and Jon really did need help, he was going to have to trust her. He though about the knife tucked into his sock, if she turned out to be a threat he could maybe take her? She was pretty small? Martin really hoped he wouldn’t have to find out. She looked like she would bite. 

“We worked- work, for the Magnus Institute. People give statements of their encounters with the supernatural, he, he reads those and they help.” The Doctor nodded, that made sense. The parasite wanted trauma, fear. Well she had experience plenty of that, she could probably afford to feed it a little, enough to get Jon healthy at least, and hopefully convince him to come with her back to the TARDIS. 

“Does it need to be written down, or can I just say things directly?” 

“Jon doesn’t take live statements anymore.” Which didn’t answer her question. She gave Martin a look. “It, um it can hurt the statement giver.” 

“Look Martin, Jon is not in a good place, is it better for him to have a live statement or do I need to write it down.” Martin looked hearts breakingly guilty. 

“The live ones feed him best. But there are consequences. Nightmares, it, the Eye feeds on your fears, and it brings back your trauma.” The Doctor nodded once sharply. That wouldn’t be a problem. She already had nightmares, and she only really slept once a month anyway. 

“Right. You back with us Jon?” A pained moan answered her. “Help him sit up and drink some tea,” she said to Martin. She turned back to Jon. “Ok Jon, ask me. I’d like to make a statement. What do I do?” 

“No I-” his scarred face going through the full spectrum of human emotion. “I don’t take the live statements.” It sounded like it was physically painful to say, and the Doctor suspected it probably was. 

“Yeah, no I hear that, but you are going to die if you don’t take it and I am offering willingly, informed consent here.” Jon mumbled something that sounded like ‘one less monster’ but Martin shoved the mug of tea into his face and appeared to be squeezing the thin mans shoulder far tighter then he probably needed too to hold him up. 

“I- um, I” Jon sighed. “Alright.” A tape recorder which had not been on the table a moment ago clicked on. “Statement of the entity known as the Doctor, regarding-“ 

“The Time Lords.”

“Statement recorded direct from subject November 12th 2020, statement taken by Jonathan Sims, the Archivist. Statement begins.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so time line- I’m ignoring Moffat bringing Gallifrey back and I’m ignoring DW season 12 finale. So Gallifrey is forever lost and the Doctor is a Time Lord.
> 
> Thank you all so much for you wonderful comments, they really did make my week.

Chapter 5

If the Compulsion from before had been like a psychic temper tantrum, this was like a psychic vice. The power behind Jon’s words wasn’t his own. The Doctor could feel the the focus of the parasite laser sharp against her mind. She didn’t try to fight it, she knew if she did Jon would be in real trouble.

“My name is the Doctor. I am a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasteborus. My people are-were the self styled guardians of time. We travelled in it, played in it, and feel it in our very bones. The Time Lords had a strict law of non interference with other races, personally I disagreed with that, so when I was young, I took my granddaughter and we ran away. We wanted to see all the marvels the universe had to offer us. For a while it was fine. But eventually there was a war. The last great time war. It destroyed everything.”

Here Jon looked as though he was getting stronger. And the doctor found herself beginning to hate the parasite that had taken root in his mind, but she pressed forward.

“The Daleks are a race of real monsters, and I don’t say that lightly. They had genetically engineered all compassion and feeling from themselves, and encased their bodies in mobile war machines. Able to completely exterminate all life forms with a single blast. We fought as much as we could be eventually we reached a point where I had a choice. A terrible terrible choice. It was the universe or my people. I chose the Universe. So Gallifrey was lost, trapped forever in a bubble or time fighting their endless war, the Daleks trapped along with them. Though every few years some of those awful creature seem to pop out of the woodworks, but I’m some thousand or other years old and I’ll live a while more yet, and so long as I’m around they won’t win.”

That seemed to shock Jon somewhat, he certainly looked healthier though, he was still leaning on Martin, but she suspected that was more for emotional support then physical support at this point. And he had managed to drink most of his tea, which was a good sign. She hadn’t really meant to slip in that last bit, but maybe it would help the two trust her.

“St-statement ends.” He breathed out, looking exhausted but satisfied. But he was staring at her in a way that made her feel rather like he was trying to dissect her with his mind- and, yep, there it was, she felt a gentle probing at the edges of her consciousness, she gently, pushed them away and Jon looked utterly perplexed. He probably hadn’t even realized he was doing it, so her response likely felt incredibly weird.

“Right well, that’s. Right.” Jon was having a bit of a tough time of it. He felt better then he had in weeks, but he also felt dizzy and a tad unmoored. Extra dimensional fear gods were one thing. Aliens were something else entirely. He could only imagine how Martin must be feeling, having so recently been marked by the lonely, to now have confirmation that they weren’t alone in the universe, well Jon hoped it was a relief rather then a source of panic.

“More tea? I think we need some more tea.” Ok so mild panic then. Jon shifted to allow Martin to get up, wordlessly passing his now empty cup. He wondered if there was a way to ask what now? Without being rude.

“What now?” He asked. The doctor who had been sitting on the floor, bounced up onto her knees practically vibrating with energy.

“Well what did you need a Doctor for? Was it the brain parasite? I bet it’s for the brain parasite, not sure I can help with that without better equipment but I’m happy to try!”

“I- well, I don’t, parasite?” Jon felt out of his depth, a familiar feeling to be sure, but it was almost nice to feel confused. Almost human not to Know what she meant.

“The thing we just fed? That’s eating the statements? That has wrapped its nasty little tendrils in your brain?”

“The Eye??” The Doctor shrugged.

“Sure if that’s what you call it, good a name as any I suppose, it’s presence does sort of feel like being watched doesn’t it?” She carefully watched Jon’s face. “So that wasn’t why you needed a Doctor then?” Martin came back into the room at this point carrying a tea tray with three newly made mugs. He looked at Jon and then at the Doctor.

“We we’re trying to figure out the differences between Jon, and-“ Martin struggled for a word that wouldn’t reinforce Jon’s fear of being a monster. “Other people.” He finally settled on.

“Would you mind if a scan you? I have a theory on that I’d like to confirm.” Jon shrugged, it didn’t sound especially harmful. And it wasn’t like it was likely to kill him at any rate. The Doctor pulled a strange device from her pocket, with a crystal at the top and pointed it at him, waving it around.

“Just as I thought, non-human.” There was no reaction. “Right, I guess you already knew that, not exactly subtle what with the two hearts and all, the interesting thing is your like me, you’re a Time Lord.” That got a reaction. Jon looked shell shocked. Martin sat down heavily next to him and grabbed his hand, not looking away from the Doctor.

“Jon’s an alien?” Saying it aloud in no way made it more comprehensible.

“Yep.” She fiddled with the controls on the device and scanned something again. “Jon, what did you have in your right pocket? I think it might help explain a few things.” Jon reached into his pocket and pulled out his lighter. Fingers absently tracing the spider web pattern. “Do you mind if I-“ seeing Jon’s fingers tighten around the silver shape instinctively she backed off. And instead settled for scanning it from a distance. It was just as she thought. Chameleon Arch had busted and bits and pieces of Time Lord were leaking through the human disguise. Looking at those readings, she figured it was a matter of hours before whatever remained of the lock fully broke. No point forcing the issue then, she was surprised that no memories had leaked through, but the mind was a strange thing.

Jon finally seemed to pull himself out of his shock, he had had an unfortunate amount of practise at that.

“But if I’m an- an alien, wouldn’t someone have noticed by now? Surely when I was a child, and I’m very certain I only had one heart last year.” It was unfortunate that even as he tried to find holes in what the Doctor was saying he Knew it was true. The Doctor pointed to the lighter.

“Chameleon Arch, our people used them to disguise ourselves, to hide. You store all the Time Lord stuff in there, and leave a perfectly ordinary human, out here! I’ve used one myself before, not really a fan if I’m honest.” She sniffed and took the mug of tea Martin had set down before her.

“Right and it’s, breaking? I’m becoming less human?” There was an exhaustion in his eyes that even being well fed did nothing to dispel. The Doctor has a feeling this was going to be a delicate conversation.

“You aren’t becoming less, human, it’s more the disguise that made you look that way is wearing thin. You aren’t changing into anything you didn’t start out as.” Jon buried his face in his hands.

“Look, Doctor, do you, would you mind giving Jon and me some time, that’s a lot to process and, obviously we have, like, a lot of questions but-“

“I should bugger off and let you two discuss them for a minute?” She asked. Martin looked relieved.

“Yes please.”

“Right, well, I think I saw some interesting looking sheep near your garden I’ll go take a look at shall I?”

With the door closed behind her Jon let out a very deep and heartfelt “Fuck.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will I someday write a long chapter? Maybe, will I continue updating at a daily rate? Probably- especially since you have all been so wonderful with your comments and kudos

Chapter 6

“How much do you think is monster, vs how much is alien?” Jon said after a while. Martin grabbed his hand, fingers tracing over smooth scar tissue.

“So she was telling the truth then?” Marine eyes searching Jon. He had sort of been hoping she was lying. Jon nodded.

“Yes, and I- I feel that what she said about me is right, it feels true.” He sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t have been worried about loosing my humanity considering I never had any to begin with.” He added with a helpless laugh, tinged with more then a small amount of panic. Martin raised Jon’s hand to his lips and placed a gentle chaste kiss on the back of it.

“At least you’re get a cool name?” He offered. And Jon let out a surprised laugh, short, more of a breath really but genuine this time.

“I suppose Time Lord sounds better then Avatar at any rate, though I suppose I’m still the later. Still, at least the doctor looked human, so I don’t have to worry about growing a second head or something.” Martin gave his hand a squeeze. “But it leaves the question of what now.”

“I think,”Martin said carefully, “it might be a good idea to learn more about what exactly being a Time Lord entails, there may be certain nutrients you need that you aren’t getting.” Jon hummed.

“Yes I supposed your right, besides, I’m sure you’ll want to check out her spaceship.”

“There’s a spaceship?!”

“Yes, it’s, well I Know it’s quite large but I also know it looks very small? It’s strange, you’ll like it though I think.” Jon Knew there was something dimensionally off about the ship but the Eye wasn’t telling him anything that made sense.

“Well let’s go look at a spaceship then.” Martin tried to tap down on his excitement, the odds were, given their track record, this wouldn’t end well for them, but goddamn it they deserved something good in their life for once and if that was going to be the chance to see an actual alien space ship, well he’d take it.

***

“It’s very, blue?” Martin tried staring at what appeared to be a phone box, and not in fact a spaceship. The Doctor pushed past him, through the doors.

“Well come on then!” Jon looked at Martin.

“After you.” Martin opened the door wide enough to see inside. He shut the door again.

“The outside is smaller.” He turned to Jon. “How sure are we that she isn’t an avatar of the Spiral and this isn’t just an elaborate way to trap us?” Jon was silent for a moment, his eyes going distant.

“Unless the Spiral has found a way to completely fool the Beholding, she’s telling the truth- it’s just technology, no eldritch fear gods involved. For once.” Jon offered Martin his hand. “Together?” Martin smiled and took it.

“Together.” They pushed the doors open and stepped inside.

Once inside it did have the appearance of a proper spaceship. Which put Martin’s mind to rest some about the spiral, the fact that it was such an open space helped too, though he eyed a few branching hallways with suspicion. When the TARDIS door swung shut behind them however Jon gasped.

“Oh.” His eyes looked glazed over. “The Eye, it’s so faint here, I- can, I can hardly feel it.” He was crying. It wasn’t gone, not exactly, but it was blocked somehow, like being in the tunnels but many times stronger. The Doctor bit her tongue trying to give them a moment to adjust.

“How is this possible?” There was a slight layer to his tone, so desperate was Jon to know, but it wasn’t static, the Eye was not involved in the mild completion behind the words, just untrained psychic probing.

“Psychic shielding. Some of the strongest in the universe. The TARDIS is a little bit psychic herself, she doesn’t much care for parasitic interlopers.”

“It’s like music- in my head, but it feels, warm, safe.” Jon squeezed Martins hand.

“She likes you. That’s a good sign, she has good judgement, been through a lot me and her.” The Doctor fondly patted the console and Jon and Martin ventured further into the ship.

“So what happens now?” Martin asked. He didn’t hear any music in his head and would be hesitant to trust any even if he did. He was surprised at how easily Jon was trusting this, but then again Martin thought his fingers pressed against the burn scars on Jon’s hand, maybe he wasn’t so surprised. Jon was remarkably trusting- occasional bouts of paranoia aside.

“Now we run a few tests of you’ll let me, we need to figure out how long Jon has been on Earth, Jon, I suspect you might be vitamin deficient after spending who knows how long without proper nutrition. Not to worry of course there are plenty of supplements to help balance that out.” She started walking deeper into the ship, Jon following without hesitation and Martin following behind, as Jon still grasped his hand. He kept his eyes out for yellow doors, and tried to swallow down his paranoia. It was odd though, even if he should be feeling very alone with Jon distracted and a stranger leading them deeper into an impossible ship, he felt like there was something protecting them here. Like it was safe.

He really wanted to trust that feeling, but only time would tell.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I agonized over this chapter still not really happy with it, but if I don’t post it now it will never go up. Updates might slow down as I started my paramedic prep course this week. Thank you all again so much for the amazing feedback your comments mean the world. 😊

Chapter 7

The fact that the apparent sickbay looked nothing like a hospital room, was somehow both a relief, since neither wanted a reminder of Jon’s six month coma; and a concern. They had no idea what any of the equipment was, and no real way to find out- with the Beholding silent in Jon’s head.

It was odd though, he couldn’t read the strange circular writing posted everywhere but he recognized it- in the same way, you might recognize Arabic script even if you don’t speak it. He knew it was writing, and not just art either, if he stared at it, it was almost as if he could make it out. Different from how it felt when he would Know things, more like trying to recall a dream.

“Right so pretty simple, I’ll get you up on the table and run a few scans to get your baseline- nothing too invasive.” Jon obeyed finally letting go of Martin’s hand, though neither were particularly happy about it. There were a few flashing lights from some kind of device above his head, and the Doctor was staring intently at a screen that was presumably displaying the readings.

“Oh.” She said, not quite sure how to process what she was reading. She scanned again just in case it was wrong, but no, that was what it said. “Jon how old are you?”

“I’m 33, why?” He was used to people assuming he was older then he was, his hair was considerable more grey then it had been even two years ago, and despite the meal the Doctors statement had provided he knew he still looked half starved. The Doctor sighed.

“Well, the good news is you’re exactly as old as you think you are, looks like according to my readings the Chameleon Arch was used on you when you were around two years old, so when that last lock finally breaks in, oh-“ she glanced back at the screen. “An hour and a half, you won’t be dealing with a flood of memories, you’ll have about two years worth of blurry recollections of early childhood.”

“What else?” Jon asked there was no way she would look that agitated if that was all she was trying to tell him. He was probably dying. The alien biology reacting negatively with his Avatar status or something.

“So you are quite deficient in a few vitamins, but that’s to be expected, the TARDIS sick bay is equipped with all sorts of things for that, uhhh-“ She went to one of the cabinets against the wall and started riffling through something- it appeared a great deal deeper then the cabinet had any right to be, as she practically climbed on the way in.

“Gummies, gummies,” She was muttering under her breath. “I know I had some gummy vitamins in here somewhere, kids like gummies right?” Martin shot Jon a look but he wasn’t paying attention, his eyes fixed intently on one of the symbols above the door. The Doctor had started tossing things haphazardly over her shoulder, files, a tire, electric devices that Martin was quite certain probably weren’t meant to hit the floor at that velocity.

“Ah ha!” The Doctor cried triumphantly emerging from the cupboard holding a bottle of what looked for all intents and purposes like gummy bears. “These should do the trick! Time Lord vitamin supplement, guaranteed to get you healthy or your money back- it dumps the stuff you need into your system and the stuff you don’t passes through you digestive system.” She tossed the bottle to Jon, who fumbled it and dropped it. Martin picked it back up and passed it to him. It was covered in the same circular markings as the rest of the ship, but this time in a bright and friendly colour. He didn’t open the bottle.

“What else?” He asked again, he had a feeling that had nothing to do with the eye and everything to do with a slight itching that he felt deep in his brain- that there was something big she wasn’t saying.

“Right, well the thing is- I mentioned I was some thousand years old right?” The feeling of dread Jon had changed, still dread but for a very different reason. “The thing is, Time Lords age a bit differently then humans yeah? So, since you grew up as a human, you have a more or less human adult level of maturity, which can happen in times of high stress, we can age faster or slower based on environmental factors. But see the thing is, by our standards, you still have about, oh, 167 years before any parent in their right mind would leave you on your own?” Right. Jon thought in shock, well that was, information.

“I don’t- what?” He asked helplessly.

“See, the thing is we live a really long time right? And obviously you’ve been through some really traumatic things, or else your physical body wouldn’t have aged the way it did- although the Chameleon Arch may be to blame for that now that I think about it- it was actually incredibly illegal for whoever used it on you to use it so young. It does all sorts of things to a developing brain.” She was rambling which betrayed how alarmed she was more then anything on her face ever could.

“It’s, Time Lord biology is tricky, on Gallifrey, you’d be considered a fully grown adult, and simultaneously still a child. Afforded some higher freedoms then other children your age, and more responsibilities should you want them, but mostly you’d probably be put in therepy? It’s, well it was really rare for something like this to happen, unheard of in peace times really.” At this point Jon began to laugh. He had lived through mad fear gods, and torture, kidnapping and dozens of people trying to kill him. But this was by far the most absurd thing he had ever heard.

“Can- can we have a minute?” Martin asked, eyeing the still laughing Jon with concern, and trying to push his own growing alarm deep down, he needed to be here for Jon first.

“I- yes, yes of course it’s a lot of information, obviously you need time to process, I’m a stranger. Of course.” The Doctor, clearly at a loss left them to themselves, closing the door to the sick bay and sliding down the wall beside it. She had no doubt Jon and probably Martin we’re panicking, how could they not be? She was panicking. Jon was a child! What kind of person abandons a child like that?!

With Gallifrey gone she was going to have so much to teach him, it had been so many years since primary school.

“Right, library.” She muttered. “Wait, no calm the kid first,” she stood up to open the door again, then realized it had only been a few seconds. The two probably needed more time. God it had been so long since she raised a kid, never mind a special case like Jon. She started pacing in front of the door and felt a gentle caress in her mind as the TARDIS offered her support, it seemed the ship had taken a liking to the two boys in her sickbay. The Doctor patted on of the walls and kept up her pacing. She’s give them ten minutes then she was going back in. There was a great deal that they were going to need to discuss.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I re writ this about a million times, I think it’s as good as it’s going to get, sorry if it’s overly medical 🤷🏽♀️

Chapter 8

“You know Martin I genuinely thought, that nothing could surprise me anymore.”

“Budge over.” Martin replied sitting on the exam table next to Jon and pulled him close. “Jon, our lives make no sense.” He said with authority. Jon laughed again but this time with a less hysterical edge to it.

“What eldritch fear gods and aliens too bizarre for you?” Jon asked, sarcasm dripping off every word. It made Martin feel better to hear, snarky sarcastic Jon was a good sign. He hoped. Jon sighed. “I don’t feel any different from two days ago, before the two hearts and the mad woman in the phone box. Am I meant to feel young somehow? Because I don’t, I still feel like me.” He huffed our a harsh breath. “Honestly I probably feel older now then I ever have.” He heard the tape recorder in his pocket click on and he sighed again. He couldn’t recall if it had been in his pocket when he entered the space ship or not. He hoped it had been. The Eye was still so quiet here, it would be nice to have one place where it didn’t have influence.

“She could be lying?” He offered, but Jon shook his head.

“No, she isn’t. She was right, I think I’m starting to remember a few things. Not that the images really make sense, I think the sky of Gallifrey is orange?” He made a sound that may have been laughter and my have been a suppressed sob and let go of Martins hand to massage his temples, rolling the bottle of gummy bears around in his other hand. “She gave me gummy vitamins Martin.”

“Well, if she’s telling the truth, maybe your new alien fruit snacks will help counterbalance the need for statements? Maybe you only need them so bad because your malnourished?” Jon hummed thoughtfully. He didn’t think that was the case, but Martin may have a point. “Assuming of course we can trust anything she gives you.”

“One way to find out.” Jon said opening the jar of gummy bears. He selected a yellow one that had a strange glittery pattern.

“Jon are you sure about-“ Jon popped the gummy into his mouth.

“It tastes like the concept of sunshine.” He said flatly. “I- I’m not speaking metaphorically, it literally tastes like how warm sunshine feels.”

“I can’t believe you just ate that.” Jon shrugged and debated the merits of trying the one that was a colour he had no name for. The Doctor has said it would only give him what he needed, it probably wouldn’t hurt to have another? He resisted and put the lid back on. Best to wait and see what happens and make sure it wasn’t poison. No point in getting a double dose.

“It’s probably wishful thinking, given our normal luck, but being here, it feels safe. The Eye is so distant, it almost feels like being free.” Martin grabbed Jon’s hand.

“It doesn’t really feel lonely either.” He said softly. “I don’t trust it, but I think it would be very easy to.” Jon put down the bottle of gummies and used his free hand to massage his temples, he was developing something of a headache, not from the soft almost imperceptible music, or anything related to the eye, it was more like the strain from trying to remember a forgotten dream. There was all sorts of strange words with impossible syllables that he couldn’t understand bouncing around in his skull.

“I don’t care what the Doctor says though. I’m not a child.” Martin thought back to when he first met Jon, how he regularly forgot to eat, and never seemed to know how to take care of himself, how despite getting in everyone’s case about keeping the Archives organized Jon was the least organized person Martin had ever met. Even his reckless and impulsive choices that never really seemed well thought out.

“Of course not.” Martin said as genuinely as he was able. “We should probably get something to eat, you may have needed to take that gummy with food and it’s past lunch time already. May as well try some alien food.”

“When in Rome I suppose.” Jon agreed. He tilted his head, “I can hear her pacing and muttering to herself. We should probably let her back in.” Jon wondered if that was how he sounded when he still suspected his assistants of killing Gertrude. If so he was beginning to see how it could have been- irritating to his coworkers. He gently extricated himself from Martin, who reluctantly let him go. As he walked towards the door it slid open on its own, and Jon felt the soft music in his head give what felt like a mental caress. He had no idea how to process that, but it felt, nice.

“Doctor?” He asked. A blonde head popped into vision, as she rounded the corner.

“Feeling better?” She asked, bouncing on her toes.

“I-“ Jon considered lying. But thought better of it. “I do have a slight headache.”

“Which in Jon speak means ‘my head hurts a great deal’” Martin translated. Worry evident in his tone.

“Well, not- yes. I suppose.”

“Right I’ll get a few more readings, but it’s probably just those pesky memories and the last of the circuit breaking. An awful lot of pressure on the brains that. Then lunch for you two. Did you take your vitamins already?” Jon nodded. Then turned to Martin and mouthed brains? Martin gave him a panicked shrug.

“Good, which flavour did you pick?” She sounded excited as she dug around in her jacket pockets pulling out a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff.

“Sunshine. I think.” Jon answered making his way back to the exam table. Trying not to think about brains.

“Ohh that’s a good one! I always liked ‘the feeling of flying’ best myself. Now I’ll get you to sit back on the table? Right good, and your arm?” She felt for his pulse and velcroed the cuff on. There wasn’t any pumps or gages, and once it was secure it lit up with a screen. She placed her stethoscope in his elbow and her fingers on his wrist as the cuff began to tighten. “350 over 290, perfect, maybe a little high, but your under a lot of stress at the moment.”

“Wait, I’m no doctor, but isn’t blood pressure that high fatal?!” Martin asked his voice cracking.

“Two hearts, higher blood output.” The Doctor said cheerfully sticking a thermometer in Jon’s ear. “A healthy 15 degrees Celsius.” She said looking at the read out. “Hearts rate a healthy 170 bpm, and respiration-“ a hand found its way to Jon’s back. “10 breaths per minute. A little high, but probably just used to breathing more often then you need to. So lunch then!” She removed the cuff and shoved it and the stethoscope back in her pocket.

“Do I need to breath less?”

“Respiratory bypass system. You get to skip all the lungs mess. Helps protect against poisonous gas and we can go a lot longer without breathing. A bit more delicate then human lungs, but that’s what a nice strong rib cage is for.”

“Oh. Um, well that’s, actually it’s funny you mention ribs.” Jon stuttered out. The Doctor looked at him sharply. “As you see I may be missing a few? Two in fact.” Martin face palmed, why did he love this absolute moron.

“That’s- not a good thing.” The Doctor ventured. “Let’s, I have to know how that happened but let’s feed you first, those vitamins should be taken with food.”

“Knew it.” Martin muttered as they followed the Doctor towards what they assumed would be the kitchen.

Somewhere in the background a tape recorder clicks off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, normal human blood pressure is around 120/80 and normal human heart rates sit at 60-80 bpm, with respiration sitting around 12-20 breaths per minute. I have spent waaaay to long today taking people’s blood pressure, this chapter was the result.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a longer one for you all this time! Your comments have all been so lovely and they definitely help me feel inspired to write more! Classes are pretty intense for me at the moment, but hopefully I’ll have another chapter for you all tomorrow or the day after!
> 
> EDIT: I realized this afternoon that I got the Chameleon Circuit and the Chameleon Arch confused. This has now been fixed.

Chapter 9

Lunch as it turned out was peanut butter, and jelly sandwiches. At least Martin thought it was jelly, it was electric blue. The sandwiches were cut into the shape of dinosaurs. Weirdly realistic looking dinosaurs. Martin was sort of impressed by the artistry, but Jon looked as though it was taking everything he had in him not to make a disparaging comment about not being a child. The Doctor did not appear to notice, taking a large bite out of the tail of her own sandwich. 

“Right, missing ribs? Do you want to explain that one to me?” Jon finally picked up his sandwich. 

“Not really.” He took a bite. He made an unintentionally appreciative noise at the flavour. “I traded one, for a statement, and one was for me. I was- not thinking my most clearly.” Martin snorted at that. 

“So it had something to do with your mental hitchhiker then? I think you had better start at the beginning. From whenever you first remember it taking hold.” Jon massaged his temples with one hand, managing to get a small amount of peanut butter in his hair, and Martin felt a rush of affection. 

“It’s not a short story.” Jon said. 

“We have plenty of time.” The tape recorder clicked back on and Jon sighed. 

“Once I get started it’s best not to interrupt me.” He waited for her nod. 

“Right. Statement of Jonathan Sims regarding the Beholding. Statement given direct from subject 12th November 2020 recorded by Jonathan Sims, the Archivist.” So Jon began. His eyes went distant as he spoke and his face was entirely blank as he reported his experiences. Martin knew what Jon was like when he recorded statements, so instead he watched the Doctor’s face through out.Noting how horrified she appeared, not when Jon would confess something ‘monstrous’ he had done, but when ever awful things were done to Jon. When Jon got to his 6 month break from the land of the living he saw her nod unsurprised by Jon’s apparent lack of vital signs. He though he heard her mumble something that sounded like ‘healing coma, makes sense.’

Which, was interesting, maybe Jon’s strange coma wasn’t an Avatar thing after all? If that was normal for his, species? Race? If that was normal for him, it might go some ways to helping Jon feel more at home with himself. Martin knee the coma of the dead was something of a sore spot for Jon- thought that may have only been because of how everyone responded to him when he awoke- Martin included he thought with some guilt. 

When Jon reached the part about removing his own rib, and his justification if there being one less monster if he were to fail- she had a look of abject horror on her face. Considering what she had told them before of the time war, that look of horror was probably saying a lot. 

When Jon finally finished and the tape recorder clicked off the Doctor looked as though someone had punched her in the gut. 

“Jon, you probably aren’t comfortable with me hugging you, you don’t really know me-“ she turned to Martin. “Martin please give Jon a hug for me.” Jon let out a huff of surprise as Martin complied. It wasn’t a difficult order to follow. It took a moment but eventually he relaxed some in Martin’s arms. “What happened to you was really really not ok, Im so sorry you were forced to endure all that on your own. I want to help if you’ll let me.” Jon made a stranger sound, clearly unsure of how to handle that. “Oh! Your probably exhausted, let me show you two a guest room, and we can talk after.” Martin figures that was probably a good idea, it was probably only somewhere around 2 or three in the afternoon at this point, but he was emotionally exhausted from everything that was happening and he couldn’t imagine Jon was doing any better. 

“That sounds like a good idea.” Martin added. The Doctor nodded and the three of them took once more to the strange hallways of the ship. 

“If you need me, there’s an intercom system by the door, just press the big blue button. I’ll come check on you in an hour or so?” Jon nodded tiredly and they made their way inside. Martin noticed that she didn’t close the door all the way, probably so that they wouldn’t feel trapped and he appreciated her thoughtfulness. 

When they heard her footsteps disappearing down the hall Martin went to sit on the large bed. That was when the tears started. He wasn’t even sure why he was crying, he should be strong for Jon right now, not breaking down. But it was all so much. Jon didn’t say anything. Just sat next to him and gently pulled him down, wrapping himself around Martin as they lay and just cried. 

Martin eventually drifted off to sleep, and Jon dozed for a time but quickly realized he wasn’t going to fall asleep any time soon, he kept getting flashes of memories, and of something else- it was, hard to understand. It was like how he had heard auras described, almost a haze around everything. He knew down to the millisecond what time it was, but it wasn’t a Knowing, so much as something felt? He tried not to think about it. It was just giving him a headache. 

He carefully stood up and wrapped Martin in a blanket to make up for his absence, it was probably warmer anyway if he apparently had an internal temperature as low as what the Doctor had said. He paced the room for a moment but it was pretty bare save for the bed, and Jon had never really done well with boredom. It was probably why he had gotten into as much trouble as he had. He debated waking Martin up but in the end, he just took out the tape recorder and left him a message leaving it on the pillow nearby. Martin would understand. 

Then he carefully crept out. The Doctor was right, he didn’t have a lot of memories, and the ones he had were unclear and fuzzy the way childhood memories are meant to be, but they were clear enough that he had questions, and he didn’t want to have to bother Martin with more inhuman nonsense. He could feel the TARDIS humming in the back of his mind, and it was heard not to find that comforting. There was a blank space in his mind where he knew his parents minds were meant to be. Now that he was more aware of it too, he could feel that that was the crack in his psyche that the Beholding had used as a foothold to tangle itself into him. He could feel it there like never before, and it felt dirty and wrong, Jon was deeply afraid of how it might feel if he were to step outside of the TARDIS’s shields. 

He couldn’t really read the signs on the walls, or at least not well, he knew what some of them meant, in the way a young child might know the alphabet, and could sort of puzzle some of them out and made his way towards what he thought might have said it was the library. He felt a presence inside as he opened the door. 

“Doctor?” There was a clatter of books falling. 

“Over here!” Her voice came from behind a massive stack of books, one half of which had fallen and was now sprawled out across the floor. He cautiously approached. The remaining books in her stack looked decidedly unstable. She popped her heard out from behind the stack. 

“It hasn’t been an hour yet? Is something wrong? Are- Ohhh, memories?” He nodded. 

“I think I’m hallucinating. I’m seeing a, not a haze but-“

“Time. You’re seeing time. I doubt the sense is very developed yet, most Galifreyans only really start to see time clearly at around 90.” Jon let out a breath that may have been intended as a laugh. 

“I don’t know if I can really accept my alleged youth just yet.” He took a seat across from the Doctor. Seeing time, sure why not? It wasn’t as if he wasn’t weird enough already, he wasn’t even sure he wanted to know more about that.“I- I remember my name; I think. It doesn’t really sound like a name so much as far too many syllables and letters.”

“Most Galifreyan names are like that, always have to be unique, only when you live for thousands of years, you options start to run slim. So they keep adding letters. You don’t have to tell me your name if you don’t want to. Names are a funny thing in Time Lord culture-“

“I-I know. I think. You have two or three names in your life time. The one you are given as a child, the truest name of yourself you see when your older, and a title you might take to reflect your true name.”

“Yeah! That’s really close, you gain your truest name when you gaze into the untempered schism and b-“ she cut herself off from using the word behold, bad connotations and all. “Observe all the greatness of the expanse of time itself. Traditionally it’s done at 8, but there was a lot of push to allow children more time before putting them through that.” It didn’t surprise her that Jon’s knowledge of such things was juvenile he would have only known what might be told to a toddler. Jon nodded at her words, the facts seeming to line up in his mind. 

“Jonishdrusormilisa. I think that’s what it was.” The Doctor barely suppressed a wince. So he’d had those kinds of parents then. She thought briefly of Romana. 

“Jonishdrusormilisa” she said. Letting him hear his name from someone else’s lips for the first time in decades. He frowned. 

“I think I’ll stick with Jon. I’ve been Jon a great deal longer anyway.”

“Is course, If you’d like, and you don’t have to make a decision right away, but if I looked up your name in the TARDIS data base, we might be able to find out who your parents were? Or at least who was looking after you.” Jon hadn’t really thought about that. He supposed his parents were Time Lords too, he hadn’t really had a chance to think about that. His entire family by blood were aliens. And they had never been anything else. 

“I think, I might like that.” He glanced at the table.” What are you reading? I recognize, that,” he pointed to one of the glyphs on the book she had next to her. “It means first? Or, my first? I, don’t, something about an early possession?” 

“Oh! You can read some of it? You must have been very advanced for you age before you ended up on Earth.” She praised and Jon tried not to find it as validating as he did. It was hard though, he genuinely couldn’t remember the last time anyone besides Martin paid him a compliment. “It’s a reading primer, a my first old high galifreyan reader. I thought- that you might like to learn some of you own language, eventually of course, not to pressure you. This book on the other hand-“ she waved the one she was holding, it wasn’t really a book so much as a very fancy looking scroll, that appeared to actually be some kind of tablet. “Covers most of the known extra dimensional beings. I’m hoping I might find something useful about your Eye.”

“After hearing everything, do you really think there’s a way to get rid of it? Aside from gouging my own eyes out of course.” His voice cracked. 

“Jon,” she looked directly towards him and put her hand out, not touching but close enough that he could should he choose to. “I will find a way to get you free. We are going to beat this thing.” Jon fought back the desire to cry. 

“I can feel it now. In a way I didn’t before. It’s wrapped so tightly in my brain, it feels so wrong.” The Doctor nodded. 

“Time Lords are telepathic, and you seem to have a natural talent for it, when we first met and you were asking me all sorts of questions it was like the psychic equivalent of screaming. Very untrained, but with a lot of natural potential. Especially considering you grew up with a largely non-telepathic species.” She winced a little. “The thing is, you know how human babies require touch to develop properly?” She waited for Jon’s nod. “Psychic species require psychic connections too. Which is what makes your connection with the Eye so difficult.” Jon heard a tape recorder click on. And fought back a sigh. He was certain the Doctor heard it too, but he was grateful when she didn’t mention it, it wasn’t like he could control it. 

“Normally, time Lord children, have something of a herd immunity to things like that, you’d have the psychic connection to your parents to lend you shielding until you can manage your own, grandparents, even friends your own age, with all those connections, it makes it very difficult for a predator like that to take hold. But because you have been starved of those connections your mind would likely have been seeking out any psychic stimulation it could get, and unfortunately on a planet like Earth your options are limited.”

“Does that mean that my, well my colleagues, the others who worked for the institute, those who are human, would it be easier to sever their connection to the Eye?” The Doctor tilted her head, that, not being the question she was expecting. 

“To a point, yes, so long as the connection isn’t too deep, any well trained telepath should be able to sever the connection.” Jon let out a stranger cry. He tried to keep it in but this was too much. “Can you free Martin?” She thought for a moment. 

“Yes, I can. But, would you rather learn how to free him yourself?” From what she could tell Martins connection to the Eye was relatively weak, and with his connection to the Lonely, the two were likely fighting each other, keeping them in check, since the two seemed to be somewhat antithetical. 

“I- you think- you think I could?” She couldn’t tell if it was hope, or fear in his voice. Probably both.

“Yes. I think you could. But in order to teach you how, I would need to form a teaching bond with you.” She held up a hand to stop his questions and pushed on quickly, “a teaching bond is non permanent, and can easily be broken by either side, and it will grant you some protection from the Eye, since the more connections you make, the fewer places it will have to hold on. You may have noticed it’s quieter in the TARDIS then outside? That’s because when you came aboard you formed a bond with the ship.”

“I did what?! Wait, TARDIS’s are sentient? I think I remember that.”

“It’s totally normal-“ she rushed to reassure, “She likes you, and it’s not a deep bond yet, though it could be if you tried, you won’t be able to feel her once you leave the ship, but she wants to protect you.” And she wants me not to be alone without any of my own kind- the Doctor didn’t add. 

Jon shook his head to clear it- filing all information about bonding with a sentient spaceship away for later. Perhaps Matin would find it funny rather then terrifying? He hoped so. 

“What would this teaching bond feel like? 

“It’s a very simple bond, very non invasive. It will let me show you things in your mind, and let you show me things in mine. That’s it- no Emotional spill over, just mental guidance- and it allows you to clearly feel what’s being sent from me, and what is from you.” As far as a first bond with someone as beaten down as Jon, the Doctor would have preferred something more stabilizing, but if he was willing to take this first step it would still be a huge leap forward in helping him recover from decades of neglect. 

“ **And how do I sever it**?” There was a heavy static over the words, she resisted a wince, knowing that he needed this to feel safe. 

“All you need to do it mentally picture where you feel the bond, imagine a pair of scissors, and snip. All gone. We can try a few really really weak ones for you to practise on if you like?” Jon slowly nodded at that. He probably should put more thought into this, but the thought of being able to free Martin from the entities was too big of a chance to pass up. 

“Ok, lets- lets try that.” He took a deep breath, “What do I need to do?”

“I’m going to put my fingers on your temple, you’ll feel a slight pressure on your mind, don’t fight it, I’ll make a very weak link and you can practise breaking it.” She stood up and moved to sit down beside him. Very gently and carefully placing her fingers on his temples. His brain tingled. It didn’t feel bad though. Still safe. Then all at once there it was. He could feel the connection and he mentally heard a very cautious but cheerful ‘hello’. He tried to send it back. Then did what she had told him, and cut it. It was gone instantly. 

“Oh.” He opened his eyes, he didn’t know when he had closed them. “That didn’t feel like I thought it would. It didn’t hurt.” The Doctor looked appalled for a brief second before schooling her features. 

“Of course not! I don’t want to hurt you Jon.” He nodded and laughed a little. 

“It’s a pleasant change.” He saw the hearts break flashing across her eyes, before she managed to pull herself together. “Alright, show me how to save Martin.” She placed her fingers back on his temples again. The connection was stronger this time, but still a pleasant tingle rather then pain. When he felt it click into place, he began to See. The knowledge wasn’t at all like when the Eye decided he had to Know something. He could tell she was giving him knowledge. It felt right. He could see her own experiences using telepathy on non telepathic species and how best to approach, how to make it soft and unobtrusive. The tape recorder clicked off and Jon felt the Eye’s displeasure but it was faint, he was protected here by the ship and the Doctor, and for once things felt like they should.

“Jon?!” Martin’s voice had a sharp edge of panic. Jon’s eyes shot open. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments fill me with so much life. I adore all of you- so here’s another chapter.

Chapter 10

“Martin!” Jon pushed away from the Doctor so quickly he nearly fell off his chair, which he tried to cover up by attempting to stand only to trip and wind up in the floor anyway. 

“Ow.” 

“Jon what on Earth are you doing!?” Jon did not have the best track record of running off and making deals with non human beings, between the scars on his hand, the missing ribs, the extreme claustrophobia and nightmares about hand lotion, Martin might have hoped he could have learnt something about not letting strangers lay hands on him, but he supposed that was too much to hope for. 

“Right well I-“ Jon shook his head somewhat dazed. His eyes focusing on nothing. 

“Your alright Jon, that was a pretty abrupt break you may be feeling some psychic backlash.” The Doctor moves to kneel down beside Jon. 

“Don’t touch him!” Martin cried quickly moving to put himself between them. 

“Martin it’s ok, he’ll be fine he just needs a minute to resettle into his own head.”

“What do you do to him!?” Martin demanded while grabbing Jon’s shoulders and pulling him slightly away from the Doctor. 

“I’ll explain in a second right now I need to help Jon.” Martin let out a frustrated whine. “Jon can you hear me?” Jon blinked a far off expression on his face. “Martin, I need to touch Jon to help him come back, I promise he’s fine, just a little lost.”

“I don’t- I don’t know if I can trust you.” What we’re you doing to him?” Martin pulled Jon closer every muscle tense. He’d been terrified when he woke up alone, and Jon’s message on the tape recorder of ‘Martin, I’m going to look around some.’ Did not help. Nor did finding Jon in some kind of trance with an alien. 

“Time Lords are telepathic. I was sharing information. It’s a safe and normal part of Gallifreyan life. But Jon is very new at it, he was startled and now he needs a hand coming back, I’m just going to help guide him.” Reluctantly very reluctantly. Martin nodded. And the Doctor came a little closer and gently place her fingers on Jon’s temples. After a moment the fog in Jon’s eyes cleared and the Doctor let go and sat back on her heels. 

“Jon? Are you ok? Are you still you?” Jon gave a few harsh blinks. Before smiling the happiest smile Martin has seen on Jon’s face in a long while. 

“Martin I know how to free you, I know how to sever you from the Eye and the Lonely. I can do it Martin, I can free you!” Martin froze. Slowly turning to the Doctor. 

“That was the information I was Sharing.” 

“Is it- can you free Jon?” Martin demanded. 

“Not yet, it’s hold on him is too strong yet, but I promise you I’m doing everything I can. The fact that Jon is using his natural telepathic abilities, with out them first being filtered through the parasite is a really good thing I swear.” 

“It’s true Martin. It’s- right I know that probably looked bad, but it was- I think, normal for- for, well for- you know.” Jon wasn’t quite at the point of being able to say my kind or time lords just yet, but honestly being an alien with a parasite was a lot easier to mentally accept then being a former human, present monster. Jon figured if he had been offered the choice he probably would have chosen alien anyway. 

“Are you sure Jon?” Martin’s eyes were pleading, and Jon nodded knowing that Martin just needed reassurance. 

“But I was serious. I think I can free you from the entities. Possibly for good.”

“I don’t- what’s the cost for you Jon? None of the things we deal with come without a price. You know that.” Martin grabbed Jon’s right hand, fingers tracing the smooth raised scar tissue. 

“There’s no- well, I suppose I’ll be quite tired after.” Jon looked to the Doctor for confirmation of that and got a shrug. “And the Eye certainly won’t like it, but that’s something we can work around. I- I remember everything now Martin. Two years isn’t a great deal, but- but, we’ll Time Lords have better memories.” Jon stumbled over the words, but he saw the Doctor beam at his inclusion of himself in the group. He gave her back a small smile. Maybe he would be ok, eventually at least. “It’s, I feel better then I have in a long time. The Eye, was satisfied with those memories, it was like taking two live statements at once.” It occurred to him that they probably didn’t want the Eye to have any more Time Lord knowledge then absolutely necessary and Jon made a mental note to discus that with the Doctor. 

It occurred to Jon that it didn’t have to be later that he discussed it. He could still feel a weak thread between them, and tentatively pushed the concern along it. The Doctors face shifted in surprise before she gave him a warm smile and nodded, a more serious expression taking over her features. 

“Jon how sure about this are you?” Martin asked, unaware of the brief telepathic conversation that had taken place. Jon made a note to talk to Martin about that at some point. He had a feeling being about to have secret conversations was something Martin may not be comfortable with. Objectively Jon probably shouldn’t be comfortable with it either, but he remembered talking like that before he could talk and it felt right. Safe. 

“I’m positive. I know how to do this. I can free you.” 

“Ok Jon, but we are going over every detail of this before you do anything. I do not want to be responsible for you getting hurt or your guilt if you accidentally hurt me.”

“Martin I- no- you, your right. That’s fair.” The Doctor stood up and offered them each a hand to pull them up. Jon took it without hesitation but Martin was slightly more cautious, though he eventually accepted it anyway. The Doctor pulled them them both to their feet as if they weighted nothing. 

Martin was desperately curious if her incredible strength was a species wide thing or just a her thing. He wished their was a way to ask that didn’t sound incredibly rude. 

“Right.” The Doctor clapped her hands together. “It’s a bit hard to explain to a non- telepathic species-“

“Martin do you remember Case number 0122204?” At Martins blank look Jon elaborated ignoring the Doctors concerned look and trying to send her a message of ‘trust me on this.’ “The Angler Fish.”

“Yes?” Martin asked, caution and suspicion warring for dominance in his voice. 

“We are going to use something like that to draw them out, a fake hook, bait- make a fake consciousness layer on top of the real one, and slip you out while they have latched on.” 

“That sounds incredibly difficult.” Martin said. 

“Not at all its copying and pasting.” Jon said praying his voice sounded steady, that Martin wouldn’t catch him in the lie. 

“It’s very simple.” The Doctor added throwing him her support. 

“Alright, what do I need to do?” 

“You just need to let me into your mind, it shouldn’t take more then ten minutes. And it won’t hurt at all.” Jon really hoped that was true. “Here sit down.” He pulled a chair out for Martin, pulling him down into it. “May I?” He asked sitting down and leaning forward fingers ready near Martin’s temples. 

Martin trusted Jon. He really did, but this felt different. He looked into Jon’s earnest and determined face though. And nodded. Jon’s fingers touched his temples and Martin didn’t know anything more. 

***

Jon had lied to Martin, there was no angler fish, and no bait. There was just Jon carefully finding places where there were connections there shouldn’t be and sniping. But the Eye listened. If it knew what Jon was going to do it might not have worked. The Doctor and the TARDIS, offered Jon some protection; allowing him to keep his attack hidden, but Martin didn’t have that advantage. Thankfully Martin’s connections both to the Eye and the Lonely were weak, and unmaintained, actively preventing the other from gaining a better hold. It didn’t take as much as Jon would have thought to sever them. 

He couldn’t fix the marks left by them, but the connections were now dead- the number you have reached is no longer in service. Jon broke his own connection to Martin and laughed. 

“It worked!” Martin looked at Jon a moment before his eyes shut and he began to slid to the floor. The Doctor had anticipated this though and helped Jon catch him. 

“He’ll be fine, but humans don’t handle that kind of psychic surgery all that well, he’ll probably sleep until tomorrow. Let get him back to your room.” Jon nodded moving out of the way as the Doctor scooped Martin up and followed the two out of the library.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s a short one- things are sort of crazy where I’m living right now. Thank you all so much for your comments, I wouldn’t be able to be so motivated to write more without you guys. 
> 
> We are entering into some heavy plot points in this chapter so strap in this fic is going to be a monster in length. And there will be some heavy angst in places. But there will be a happy ending eventually!

Chapter 11

With Martin safely tucked back into bed, the Doctor and Jon returned to the library. They had hooked him up to a monitor so if he began to wake up Jon could be there with him. 

Jon was reluctant to leave Martin alone again, but he knew the Doctor was right, Martin would be out for a good long while and it was best to let him sleep. Though Jon didn’t let the tablet where Martin’s vitals were being displayed out of his sight. It was odd, if he were anywhere else Jon didn’t think he would have let Martin out of his sight at all, but there was so much to learn! And he felt so safe here. 

“Jon that was incredible you did such a good job with him!” The Doctor praised. “High five!” Jon fought back a blush- not used to such positive feedback, and cautiously raised his left hand to hit hers. The Doctor beamed. She would get him comfortable enough for a hug if it killed her but a high-five was an excellent start. 

“I’m glad it worked.” Jon shook his head a very tiny smile gracing his lips, “I can’t believe it worked. Martin was right- most things in our lives lately come with a pretty high price. It’s hard to trust anything that seems safe.” The Doctor tried to keep her face neutral, trying to hide how much it hurt to hear what they had been through. She wished she could fix it without destroying the fabric of time itself. There were no words of comfort she could offer that wouldn’t sound false to someone who had been through as much as Jon. 

“You know, it’s odd, my memories of before, on Gallifrey, there’s only the last few months seem safe. The earlier of them really doesn’t seem all that different from working in the Archives.” More in feeling then in actual content, but he had a vague recollection that he lived with someone different earlier and moved in with another family sometime after his first birthday. 

“Why don’t we check the TARDIS records, see if we can find out more about where you came from?” The Doctor was concerned. Children were rare on Gallifrey, and what Jon was saying was leading to some theories to his origins she’d really rather prove wrong. 

“Oh, yes alright. How do we do that?” The curiosity was back in Jon’s voice and the melancholy seemed to be leaving. The Doctor hopped once he was free from his brain parasite that perhaps she would hear this side more often. She liked a curious mind, her own was always racing with questions. She pulled a seemingly random book from the shelf and sat down beside Jon at the table flipping it open to reveal a computer screen. The same circular script that covered everything else glowing brightly. 

“Do you remember how to spell your name?” Jon thought for a moment, then carefully reached out to the screen, and drew a simple circular sigil. His handwriting was incredibly messy the Doctor thought, it warmed her hearts, Jon got to have at least one thing in which he matched his age group. Messy handwriting. She initiated the search.

The very first result that showed up chilled her. Gallifrey didn’t really have police like Earth but there were people who enforced the law, and looked after citizens. And the very first result for a child of Jon’s name was a report detailing a child removed from an unsafe home. 

“It looks like there are three major reports that your name flags.” She said after a deep breath. Jon tensed. He could tell something wasn’t right. “The first is a-“ she used the Gallifreyan word for their version of police checking Jon’s reaction for understanding, when he seemed to follow she continued. “Report detailing a child removed from custody. No details are given but Jon, children are rare on Gallifrey, we live so long, that what children we do have- did have, are closely looked after by entire family lines.” Jon nodded he sort of remembered that. 

“The next is an article detailing a child matching your name being placed with an excited family, there is no names listed to protect the family in question as the person the child was taken from was never apprehended.” The Doctor took another deep breath. 

“The last result is another news article, detailing the kidnapping of a child, right around the start of the Time War, there was a great deal of upheaval and it appears the parents were concerned that their case would fall through the cracks so they went to the press. There’s a picture.” She held the book out to Jon. There being held by a man in a frankly ridiculous head dress and surrounded by all sorts of people who looked nothing alike but all of whom were smiling was Jon. He remembered this. Tears pricked at his eyes. 

“May I have a copy of this?” He asked voice steady but hands shaking. 

“Of course I’ll print something out for you. Jon, would you mind showing me your lighter?” With the Chameleon Arch fully broken there shouldn’t be any lingering desire to guard the lighter so she figured Jon might let her get a look at it- it might hold some clues as to why he had been left behind on 21st century Earth. 

“Oh- uh, sure. Why?” Jon fumbled around in his pocket before handing it to her clearly thrown by the sudden change in topic and tone. 

“This is our best chance at figuring our who took you.” She whipped out her sonic and began to scan it. 

“What exactly does that thing do?” Jon asked, and the curiosity in his voice made some of the tension drain from her spine. She sent a short explanation along the teaching bond. “Oh.” Jon sounded awed. She wasn’t sure if that was from the sonic or from her use of the bond. “But then how-“ she sent a bit more information. “Oh I see.” For Jon it was less a revelation about the sonic- or even the bond itself that he was so awed by. It was like when he would Know things from the eye, but this felt right, he could tell the knowledge was shared, it felt like it should be shared, it was like the Doctor was giving him a glass of water after he had asked for one, and the Eye was dumping ice water onto his head when he least expected it. The Eye was a perversion of this, new bond- it had felt right only because he had nothing to compare it to. 

The Doctor let out a frustrated noise, pulling the screwdriver away, before looking at the lighter more closely and gasping. 

“Jon that’s not a spider web! Well not just a spider web- look its writing! Galifreyan writting!” 

“Well what does it say?!” He asked impatiently. 

“It’s a name. Jonahitmarmagnisa”

“No.” Ice ran through Jon’s veins “That- that couldn’t be- Jonah Magnus. He- no.” The Doctor quickly picked up on what Jon was saying. 

“Jon, Jon I need you to look at me and breath.” Jon kept shaking his head. If Jonah Magnus was a Time Lord- or involved in this somehow- he knew. Of course Magnus knew Jon wasn’t human. He knew everything Jon didn’t know why he bothered to hope. 

“JON!” The Doctor has grabbed Jon’s shoulders. Jon started. Briefly snapping out of his panic. “Jon I need you to breath for me can you do that?” Jon took a deep shuddering breath. “Ok, now I need you to concentrate on this rhythm.” She very carefully took his hand making sure he could see her do it. And began tapping out a slow and steady double heart beat. Slowly Jon’s breathing evened out and his hearts stopped racing. 

“He’s in everything. How is he always in everything.” Jon rasped. He felt exhausted. 

“Jon we are going to figure this out.” She gently squeezed his hand. They sat there like that for nearly an hour in silence. “Come on Jon, lets get you back to your room, get some rest with Martin, and we can talk about this in the morning. It was still early evening but she had no doubt Jon would fall asleep quickly. He nodded and the last thing she saw before leaving their room was Jon curling up under the blankets, his smaller form clutching at Martin like the larger man was an oversized teddy bear.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my employer is absolutely nuts and is keeping us open during against government recommendations. And somehow things we can still order stuff in from the states. With the borders closed. So I’m stress writing- it may not be my best quality, but you will get a lot of it. 
> 
> Your comments are the only thing keeping me sane right now- so thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Chapter 12

Martin woke up feeling warm, loved and safe, he took a moment to linger in the feeling. He loved waking up next to Jon. Boney elbows icy feet and all. It was the smell that finally pulled him from his comfortable doze. Daisy’s cabin smelt of old wood and mildly musty from being shut up so long- even after he and Jon had aired it out- but right now all he could smell was, cinnamon?

“Jon?” The arms wrapped around his middle gave a slight squeeze in response. Jon wasn’t asleep, but he was comfortably settled in that half space of not quite awake either. He’d spent the entire night like that.

“Mmm- yes Martin?” Martin shifted to bring them face to face. 

“What happened yesterday?” The peaceful expression on Jon’s face vanished in an instant. “Jon?” Jon pushed himself up to a sitting position, rubbing his hands across his face. He gave a helpless little laugh and Martin sat up as well reaching for him, but Jon brushed his hand away.

“Well there good news and bad news, which do you want first?” 

“Good.” Maybe telling the good news would help brace Jon to tell him the bad news. 

“Your free Martin.” Jon actually smiled, briefly forgetting the bad news he had to tell and relishing in the wonder that still filled him when he thought about it. “Your free- I last night, I lied, I had to-“ he quickly talked over any interruption Martin attempted. “You were still connected to the Eye and it might have been listening and prepared for what I was going to do, so I- I lied to you- but I cut you off- the Eye, the Lonely, they’re gone.” Jon braced himself for Martins anger at the lie. He knew his own track record of hiding things from people didn’t paint this in the best light. He wasn’t prepared for Martin to nearly tackle him in a hug. 

“Thank you Jon.” He whispered. 

“Oh- uh- you’re-you’re welcome.” He paused a moment, slowly beginning to relax. “You’re not mad?” Martin huffed out a laugh. 

“Jon I put you in an impossible position, you lied- and saved me from the Eye and the Lonely. Why on Earth would I be mad?” Jon pressed his forehead to Martin’s the gesture no less meaningful without the psychic connection it might have with someone from Gallifrey. Jon finally broke the embrace, he wanted some distance for the bad news. He had no idea how Martin might react. 

“Oh- Time for the bad news then?” Martin asked when Jon stood up and began to pace. 

“So I remember things now, not a lot, things like names and- well we looked up my family- only it’s complicated? And- well, so I suppose I was taken from a bad situation, and then adopted.” It was hard to translate his early memories into English equivalents. “But I was taken again- and well,” Jon pulled out his lighter. “It’s not a spider web- well, not just a spiderweb, it’s, writting- a name, the English equivalent of which is, Jonah Magnus.” There was silence. Jon stopped pacing for a moment to watch Martin. Very slowly Martin stood up and pulled Jon into a tight embrace. Jon let out a sob. 

“Why can’t things ever be simple?” Jon mumbled into Martins sweater after a while. 

“I really don’t know.” Martin pulled Jon back onto the bed. “So do you think that means Magnus is a Time Lord? Or- something?” Jon sighed and leaned into Martin. 

“Probably- I, we can ask the Doctor to do more digging into the name in her records, it might offer some clues, but it seems likely. It-“ Jon tilted his head. “Ok, I don’t know if I’m remembering this right? But Time Lords can do something called-“ he let out a frustrated noise. “I don’t know the word in English. But they can do this thing when they are old or sick or hurt, where they, change? Their whole body changes into a new healthy body. But it looks different?” Jon fidgeted with the sleeves of his shirt, frustrated at his inability to explain. It was like having a 5 year old explain death. He sort of understood- but looking back he knew it had been explained to him in the way one might explain to a child and his understanding of it was a child’s understanding. He was pretty sure it was only explained as young as it had been because his grandmother had changed her face entirely.

“So Jonah’s body swapping-“ 

“Exactly.” 

“Oh.” They sat in silence. Jon assumed Martins mind was full of as many fears and worries as his own. What this might mean for his relationship to Jonah Magnus, whether Jon might be more damaged then previously considered- given that even at age 1 on an alien world he was mixed up in all of this. Martin took a deep breath and Jon was certain this was it- Martin wouldn’t want to be with an emotionally/ physically damaged alien with ties to the man who ruined his life. 

“Can you smell cinnamon buns?” Was what Martin said instead. 

“What?”

“Cinnamon buns- I can definitely smell cinnamon buns.” Jon felt a rush of affection for Martin as he watched him stand and head toward the door, slipping his shoes on while he went. He turned back to look at Jon. “Well aren’t you coming?” Jon nodded, smiling as he stood up and slipped his shoes on. 

They followed the smell to the kitchen they had had lunch in the day before. The Doctor was sitting at the table with three plates set out reading a book that Jon was pretty sure said something about childhood illness on the cover which he decided to ignore. 

“Oh you’re up! Perfect breakfast will be ready in a second!” She put down her book- it was detailing proper sleep schedules for young Gallifreyans, and went to what looked like an oven. She hadn’t actually baked cinnamon buns, she had run down to the village bakery at around 5 am that morning and bought a dozen, and then put them in the kitchen stasis pod. Keeping them frozen in time at the perfect freshness. She set the tray of still steaming buns on the table. 

Martin excitedly grabbed one, transferring it quickly to Jon’s plate before blowing on his fingers and grabbing one for himself with his other hand. Jon was blushing fiercely at Martin, and compensated by passing the icing to Martin before he could reach for it.

“So I think I might have a temporary solution to your Eye problem Jon.” The Doctor began, and Jon sighed when he heard a tape recorder he didn’t remember bringing to breakfast click on. He pulled it out and set it on the table. “Oh!” She jumped up with excitement. “Oh you are beautiful aren’t you?” She grabbed the tape recorder and began scanning it with her sonic. “Oh that’s a devious little trick isn’t it?” 

“What are you talking about?” Jon asked static unintentionally creeping into the edges of his voice in his alarm. 

“This,” the Doctor said excitedly. “Is not a tape recorder. “Well, it is a tape recorder, but it’s not just a tape recorder. It’s a biodrome!”

“Because of course we all know what a biodrome is.” Jon said- Martin figured he had been aiming for sarcasm but it was clear to Martin Jon was too excited by the potential knowledge being dangled in front of him to really commit. 

“It’s a very advanced piece of nanite tech! You have millions of tiny little robots all existing in one space programmed to assemble into one thing at users convenience- like a transformer toy! These little buggers are programmed to turn into tape recorders. It, well-“ she lost some of her enthusiasm here. “It looks like you may have been infected with these nanites, and then anytime you feel really curious or interested in something, it activates them, they pour through your pours and blamo! Tape recorder in your back pocket. I’ve never seen nanites use someone’s blood as a host like this before so that’s new.

“Can we get rid of them?” Martin was quick to ask, he could practically feel the Doctor preparing herself for an educational rant, and Martin doubted Jon would have the self discipline not to just let her. 

“I don’t know- but-“ she waved her sonic in Jon’s direction, “I think we might be able to deactivate them. Since they exist in your body, they maybe hooked into your brain too- amplifying you’re connection to the Eye.”

“But we can deactivate them?” Jon asked, eager to do anything that might break his connection even a little. The Doctor went back to scanning the tape recorder. 

“I think so.” She chewed her lip in concentration. “I need more power, these have been modified with something, I can’t tell what but I think if we- come with me.” And she was off running down the corridors with Martin and Jon pausing only a moment before taking off after her. Thankfully they didn’t go far- they were back in what Martin assumed was the control room. 

“Right-“ she was flipping levers and pulling switches seemingly at random, before reaching her entire arm into a section of the console and pulling out a thick bundle of cables, which she began to arrange in a mess of wire. Jon tentatively sent a question about what she was doing, and if he could help through the bond. “Oh yes! Right, Jon, can you hold this- yes perfect just like that!” She passed him a mess of cables as she stripped the ends of them and began attaching them to the sonic in increasingly bizarre ways. “Martin, that switch over there- she pointed with her elbow aiming the thoroughly beefed up sonic in Jon’s direction. There was a quiet whirring noise, and a strange tingly feeling all throughout Jon’s body. 

“Oh-that tickles.” He said before collapsing to the floor.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well my city is now under a state of emergency, so aside from studying I have so much time to work on this now- since all non essential businesses have been asked to close.
> 
> But I’m good, I have lots of food for me and my Lizard so I shall be writing this now to stave off boredom rather then stress- your comments still mean everything to me and they are literally the best part of my day when I see them.

Chapter 13

“But it worked?” Martin asked.

“I think so- we won’t know for sure until he wakes up- the nanites must have been implanted younger than I thought, they were incredibly integrated into his nervous system. He just needs time to recover from the system shock. It shouldn’t be that much longer.” The two of them were sitting on either side of Jon in the sickbay, Martin clutching Jon’s hand, the Doctor occasionally touching Jon’s temple. She was trying to be subtle about it, but subtly had never been on of her strong suits and Martin almost immediately picked up on it.

“What are you doing?” There was no hostility in his voice but it was laced with some suspicion. The Doctor supposed she couldn’t blame him for that. She took her fingers off Jon’s temple.

“Time Lords are telepathic. And it seems Jon’s mind has a tendency to wander when he’s asleep. I’m trying to help him stay in his own body. It will be harder for him to wake up if he’s wandering.” Martin swallowed hard.

“He- he tends to show up in people’s nightmares after they’ve given a statement.” She sighed and shook her head. The poor kid.

“It’s not really his fault, it seems the Eye uses him to make psychic connections with the statement givers and since a healthy Gallifreyan child should have multiple psychic bonds to help keep them stabilized until they learn how to properly anchor themselves...well.

The only connections Jon has been able to make are to the Eye- and from there to the statement givers. We- Time Lords don’t really tend to sleep much but when we do, in a healthy family- we all sort of dog pile into each others dreams. The only connections Jon has are ones made out of fear- so he’s subconsciously trying to reach out in a normal healthy way, but the people he’s reaching out to can’t respond or protect themselves.” Martin felt a rush of guilt and shame. When he had first heard about Jon stalking people’s dreams he hadn’t exactly had warm fuzzy feelings about it.

“Oh.” Martin squeezed Jon’s hand again. He felt it squeeze back. “Oh! Jon?!”

“I feel as though I’ve spent an unfair amount of time unconscious since I met you Doctor. I’d like to file a complaint against your medical practise.” He moved to sit up smiling at Martin while the Doctor laughed.

“How are you feeling?” Martin asked.

“I think- I- It’s- I cant feel it- or I can feel it but I don’t think it can feel me- the Eye- I” Jon took a deep breath. “I don’t think the Eye can feel me- I can- it’s still there but I- I think”

“Oh! The nanites must have been amplifying your connection!” The Doctor smacked her forehead with her palm flabbergasted she hadn’t seen it sooner. “And with them gone the TARDIS shields and my own shields are enough to completely cut you off.”

“So as long as he’s on the ship the Eye can’t touch him?” Martin asked cautiously- it seemed too good to be true.

“I think it’s more I’m invisible here- like the tunnels, but better.” It wasn’t much of a victory in the grand scheme of things but honestly any victory was still more then they usually got so Martin was more then happy to take it. The happy moment was abruptly ended by the sound of Martin’s phone alerting him to an email.

“How on earth am I getting service in an alien spaceship?? But not in the cabin?” He asked bewildered as he fished it out of his pocket.

“Oh- that would be me- TARDIS can boost cell signals from inside.” The Doctor said, she had wandered off a ways and was now attaching all sorts of strange blinking and glowing devices to the tape recorder- trying- Jon assumed, to glean what information she could from it.

“It’s an email from Basira.” Martin was trying not to geek out over how cool it was that he had full bars on his phone because of a spaceship. That could be for later. “She said she sent a box of statements to the cabin that should arrive tomorrow sometime, but she found Daisy.” Jon sat up at that. Him and Daisy has a complicated relationship but after he’d saved her from the Buried they had bonded in the weird dysfunctional way all of Jon’s friendships seemed to be these days.

“It’s- I’m sorry Jon it looks like it’s bad. She’s, well she’s been hunting. I don’t think theres much of her left.” Jon nodded it wasn’t surprising news, he knew better then anyone how easy it was to let go of your humanity with a single small slip up, and Daisy had been fighting off two much better nourished Hunters, she couldn’t have remained human and survived it. Jon’s humanity might be- Jon froze in his musings. He wasn’t Human, he was an alien, he had freed Martin from the Eye and the Lonely, maybe he could free Daisy?

“Doctor, would you be entirely opposed to helping us free a friend of ours?” He looked over to their host- when had she put on those goggles? It didn’t matter Jon supposed. She looked over at them.

“Isn’t she the one who tried to kill you? All because you aren’t human?” The Doctor made an excellent point as far as Martin was concerned.

“Well, yes, but she had a good reason, I was- out of control.”

“Jon you are a telepath with zero training and a natural inclination to reach out, under thin influence of a vicious brain parasite.” The Doctor was quite proud of herself for not screaming ‘she tried to kill a child!’ The fact that Jon was still able to be as forgiving as he was was probably something that should be more encouraged then not- though she was worried it might be due to self hatred then actual forgiveness.

“Regardless it’s- I know how hard it is to fight the influence of the Entities and she was trying her best. I owe it to her to help.”

“Jon.” The doctor walked back over to them- pushing her goggles onto her forehead. “I’ll help you help your friend but I want to make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. You don’t owe her- you aren’t a Monster and it wasn’t ok that she tried to hurt you. If we help her, it’s because you want to help her- not because you want to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.” No one ever said she wasn’t a little bit of a hypocrite- the Doctors self own sacrificing streak was a mile wide.

The teaching bond didn’t allow for the transfer of emotions but she sent along the Gallifreyan words for affection, and caring. And by the moisture in the corners of Jon’s eyes she knew he understood. He nodded. Martin squeezes his hand.

Martin was really growing to like the Doctor. He doubted he would have been able to make Jon see even a little bit of sense of his self destructive tendencies. Not that Martin could really blame Jon for it- he knew he wasn’t any better.

“You know where a good place to start would be though? A change of clothes and a shower.” She wrinkled her nose.

“Are you saying that we stink Doctor?” Jon played along grateful for the offered way out of dealing with his emotions. Martin tried to give his sweater and subtle sniff.

“Yes. The wardrobe is down the hall- three lefts. Once you two are both showered and dressed we’ll come up with a plan to help your friend.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I was hoping to have Daisy and Basira in this chapter but that didn’t happen, next one I promise. So please enjoy this entirely self indulgent fluff chapter. 
> 
> To everyone who comments, it is legitimately the best part of my day when I get to read what you guys have to say.

Chapter 14

The wardrobe was the most beautiful thing Martin had ever laid eyes on. His boyfriend notwithstanding. The Doctor had told them to take whatever fit that they liked, and it seemed to go on forever. Clothes of all different time periods and styles- clothes Martin wasn’t sure were even designed to fit a human form, all thrown together in the most haphazard unorganized mess he has ever seen. 

“It’s worse then the Archives.” Jon said disgust evident in his voice. Martin laughed, free from the Lonely and with the knowledge that Jon was one step closer to being free from the Eye, Martin felt lighter then he had in years. He was freshly showered and smelling of Lemonspice whatever that was and now he had a chance to try on some of the most ridiculous clothes he had ever seen- and hopefully he’d get the chance to see Jon in something that didn’t make him look like a frumpy librarian from the 90s. He grabbed Jon’s hand and pulled him deeper into the mess of clothing. 

At some point over the next half hour or so of Martin passing Jon more and more ridiculous items Jon had managed to wander off deeper into what may have been a historical section. He grabbed what looked like a passively normal shirt. Stripping off his own as he went and leaving it on the floor. He always tried to be doing other things while he changed so he wouldn’t be tempted to look at his body and the scars littering it. He had mastered the art of showering in two minutes or less for that very reason- though the jets in the shower earlier had almost tempted him to take his time. 

The shirt had sleeves that would perhaps have looked more in place on a pirate, but he found some sleeve garters to help keep things manageable at least. He liked the material more then he would have thought and the loose fit hid his overly scrawny forms the length of the sleeve cuffs even made it possible to partially hide the scaring on his right hand. It felt nice. He snagged a pair of what he though were plain black trousers- they ended up being some kind of high waisted fit- and Jon was about to remove them to find something else when he put one of his hands in the pocket by force of habit. Only, the pocket kept going, and going and- Jon was quite certain the pockets on these pants were bigger on the insider. He gave a mental shrug. It wasn’t like he didn’t already look ridiculous in normal clothing. Perhaps if he looked like this when children stared at his scars he could pretend they were looking at his ridiculous clothing instead. Besides, they really were comfortable pants. 

He met up again with Martin in what appeared to be a section dedicated purely to overcoats. Martin had managed to find a blazer that somehow gave off the impression of being a cardigan in a rather fetching emerald shade and some comfortable looking jeans. Jon wasn’t really sure about the black and white striped scarf- but Martin seemed pleased enough and anything that brought a smile to Martins face was alright as far as Jon was concerned. 

“Oh! Jon! You um you look really nice!” Martin was beside himself with excitement but trying not to show it. The poet style shirt and high waisted pants made Jon look like the hero of a romance novel- and Martin was very close to swooning like the leading lady of those very novels. 

“I like the green.” Jon gave in reply, still entirely unable to either take or give a complement. Martin blushed. Jon busied himself looking at overcoats to compensate for his own reddened cheeks. His fingers caught on something that felt familiar. The fabric was a deep bronze and the coat would have come down to mid calf if worn. He recognized it though. It was the colour of his adopted family on Gallifrey. There was even silvery embroidered writing along the lapels. Jon didn’t hesitate and pulled it off the hanger and slipped it on. It was a perfect fit. Unlike the ceremonial robes it was tailored to tuck in by the waist though the sleeves were the same overly wide style as was standard. It was exactly what Jon didn’t know he was looking for. 

“Oh that’s an interesting coat-“ Martin began, but he saw the silver embroidered symbols along the collar and sleeve cuffs. “Is there something about it you, remember? From, from before?” Jon took a moment to answer that. Him and Martin hadn’t really talked about the whole alien thing, not properly, not like it deserved. But Martin asking about it, trying so hard to sound casual. Jon was beginning to think that maybe things would be ok. 

“I- I think this belonged to my family.” He didn’t know where to even begin explaining time lord familial structures to Martin, they were frankly a little too close to a caste system for Jon’s comfort anyway, but his family, the ones who took him in- it felt right to honour them like this. Martin took Jon’s hand. 

“Come on- I think I saw a section of shoes, and we could both probably use a new pair.” Jon wiggled his toe through the hole in his right shoe that he had tried to patch with scotch tape- it had seen better days. Martins own beat up sneakers weren’t fairing much better. 

The shoe section was at least a little more organized and Jon let out a sigh of relief. Martin found a pair of what looked like heavy duty steal toed boots but apparently weighed so little they floated down gently when you dropped them. Jon attempted to find a pair of plain practical loafers, he did not succeed in this quest. But he did find a pair of navy velvet loafers with silver leaves embroidered on them, he decided it was good enough. 

Jon left his new jacket in the room that he was already thinking of as his and Martins- it was so odd how quickly he’d grown comfortable here. He tried to fight it- knowing how easy it was to loose something safe, but it had been so long since he’d had much to loose; it was hard not to get attached. 

***

“Right you lot- so Daisy, you figure she’s a full Avatar of the Hunt then?” They were back in the library tea steaming cheerfully on the table. Martin was very firm in his belief that you couldn’t come up with a good plan without a good cup of tea. 

“Yes, I think that’s more likely then not.” Jon agreed. 

“So we have to assume the connection is going to be a great deal stronger then the one you broke Martin free from.” Jon nodded. 

“The Hunt- it makes her violent, aggressive she’s closer to a wild animal then a person when she’s fully in its grip. When we were in the Buried she was cut off from it- able to gain enough control to fight it. But the Hunt is different from the Eye, the more she feeds it the less herself she becomes.” The Doctor had gotten up and begun to pace. 

“The trouble is, I can’t see anyway to safely bring her inside the TARDIS, and there’s no way for Jon to safely leave the TARDIS.” She rand a hand through her hair. 

“Is there a way we can minimize the risk for me? Because there is no way Daisy and Basira will trust you- not that they trust me, but they might not shoot you if I’m there.” Mostly because their guns would be trained on Jon himself- he very pointedly didn’t add. The Doctor sighed and shook her head. 

“I don’t know.”

“What about- well you have psychic shields, can you teach that to me or something?” Martin pushed a cup of tea into Jon’s hands as he spoke, Jon didn’t notice of course but he absentmindedly took a sip anyway. 

“Your brain hasn’t really developed the right kind of muscles for you to be able to maintain personal shields yet- it won’t for decades! That’s why familial bonds are so important- it’s like a multi point protective shield for developing minds to prevent psychic parasites from taking advantage of a vulnerable mind.” She ran her hand through her hair again. “With Gallifrey gone your options are limited- there really aren’t any races out there comparable both with the particular flavour of Gallifreyan telepathy, and the long time commitment such a bond requires.” She shook her head and her pacing grew more agitated. 

“I understand why no one would want to- to adopt me as it were-“ Jon knew that’s what she was getting at when she talked about familial bonds, he remembered that well enough. “Not that I’m a child of course but-“ 

“Jon no- don’t think I wouldn’t want to bond with you.” The Doctor looked horrified that he would think that. “I would be honoured to do that- but I didn’t think you’d want that. It’s not an easy choice to go back on. And with everything you’ve been through the last thing you need is to make a big decision like this without being given the chance to really think it through.”

“What exactly does it entail?” It was Martin who spoke up now, some of what the two were discussing was going over his head, but he thought he understood the gist of it. 

“A familial bond like that- well it’s” the Doctor struggled to find a way to define it to a non telepath. With her Human companions she actively avoided talking about this stuff but it wasn’t fair to keep it from Jon or his partner. Jon needed to have a support network- and Martin had been doing an admirable job of supporting Jon. 

“I would know where Jon was at all times, and He would know where I am, and there would be some- some emotional spillover, like- like if he was really scared I’d feel it and could come find him and help.” Martin glanced at Jon- he didn’t seem surprised by any of this so Martin assumed he remembered from before. They really were going to have to talk about that once if these days. “It also helps to stabilize minds that have a tendency to wander outside their own bodies.” She added recalling Jon’s psychic sleepwalking from earlier. 

“It’s more invasive for the parent then the child if I recall correctly.” Jon added. Which was true, there was a lot less spillover from the adult to the child, then the other way around, but that was because the child didn’t usually have much control over their abilities. Jon had already shown remarkable aptitude for telepathy and the Doctor suspected it really wouldn’t be as invasive as a more standard familial bond. 

“If you wanted it Jon I would be honoured to look after you.” Jon shook his head, a bit overwhelmed. 

“You’re right. I do need more time to think about it. Do you think there’s some way we could boost the TARDIS’s psychic shields? Like a -“ Jon kept dropping non English words here and Martin was having a hard time following- though the Doctor seemed to understand though, and Martin was content to watch Jon excitedly light up as they put together a plan. 

It seemed to involve modifying the nanites already in Jon’s blood and hooking them directly into the TARDIS’s system, allowing him to essentially carry the psychic shielding with him. Martin didn’t think he’d ever seen Jon this animated. And he knew he had a big dopey smile on his face as he watched his boyfriend get up and begin to pace in the opposite direction of the Doctor as they traded ideas back and forth. Jon occasionally asking questions and after a moment of silence seeming to have the answer. They would probably have to talk about that at some point too, but for now Martin thought they might actually have the luxury of time. What a novel experience. 

***

Reprogramming the nanites didn’t actually take as long as Jon might have thought. The Doctor had a pretty good understanding of them now after studying them- and they were definitely a Gallifreyan design. Which led some unfortunate credence to the theory of Jonah Magnus being a time lord, and of his involvement with Jon’s life in general. He was nervous about reactivating them though, and clutched at Martin’s hand as the Doctor began prepping to turn them back on. It would be a great deal simpler then turning them off- she just needed to find the right sonic frequency and hopefully- he’d be fully patched in to the TARDIS’s system. He felt the warm singing in his mind gently vibrate through him. He felt in his bones the ship approved of this plan. Which did help put him at least a little more at ease. 

“Ok ready? One, two-“ the Doctor turned on the sonic and activated the nanites. Jon didn’t really feel all that different. The singing in his head grew clearer after a moment, and before his eyes he could see equations and symbols he half remembered flash across his mind.

He really needed to relearn Gallifreyan. Almost as soon as he thought it he felt bits and pieces of the language trickling through both his teaching bond with the Doctor and though the translation banks of the ship. He knew with instant clarity if he wanted to learn any language he need only ask the TARDIS and she would happily share it, either with the universal translation feature or by dumping the language directly into his mind. It was incredibly. There was so much knowledge. 

“Jon? Jon you with us here?” That was the Doctor. Jon slowly pulled himself out from the heady cloud of processing systems his mind had immersed itself in. 

“She’s so big.” He saw in awe. The firm squeeze from Martin’s hand the only thing keeping him grounded. This would take some getting used to. 

“Yeah she’s something special.” The Doctor absentmindedly patted the nearest piece of equipment. 

“Are you alright Jon?” 

“Yes Martin I think I am.” It was always such a pleasant surprise when anything they did worked out. “Right- lets get Daisy shall we?”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now that my work has shut down, I live alone and all of your comments are keeping me sane in quarantine- my city is under a state of emergency so I’m stuck in isolation for the foreseeable future.
> 
> I hope the pacing made sense for this chapter, I probably rewrote it a dozen times, Basira is really hard to write. She doesn’t want to trust anyone and that makes it hard to move the plot forward- but I have done my best 😊

Chapter 15

Martin had offered to run down to town to give Basira a call and- not explain the situation, but at least give her some sense of warning about the situation. He was also going to grab them some lunch and check to see if the statements she had sent had arrived yet.

Jon thought it spoke volumes that Martin was comfortable enough leaving Jon with the Doctor to do so. Both from the perspective of Martin’s former connection with the Lonely and his protective instincts towards Jon.

“Be sure to tell me if you see any good cows” Jon called out fondly to Martin as he watched him leave the TARDIS.

“Obviously I’m going to tell you if I see any good cows!” It made Jon feel warm inside that simple expectation of being part of each other’s lives like that. Jon did hope that the mail had arrived- he didn’t like the idea of leaving statements sitting in the post office for long. For all that his connection to the Eye was diminished while in the TARDIS, it wasn’t unlike the urge to have a cigarette. That need to read them. With Martin gone the Doctor had convinced him to try the ‘feeling of flying’ flavoured gummy and she had been right- it was delicious. He wondered idly how long he would need to take supplements for before he was healthy, wondered what that would be like.

He spent the time waiting for Martin watching the Doctor repairing the damage she had done to the main control console when they had deactivated his nanites. If he let his eyes unfocus some he could watch the haze around her that she claimed was time. It was oddly soothing to watch. He could feel the TARDIS humming contently as the Doctor reconnected things.

After a while he got up to help her. He didn’t really know what he was doing, but he knew the ship would stop him if he did something wrong. Jon was entirely certain that the Doctors knowledge of her ship wasn’t much better anyway- and he felt a fond sort of confirmation from the TARDIS as he thought it so he knew he was right.

Martin didn’t take too long and arrived back with two large boxes- one with lunch and the other, well it was lunch of a sort. Jon didn’t know if he would need to consume statements in the same way with his connection to the Eye blocked as it was, but their lives were never that simple so it would be best to be prepared.

“Got a location for us?” The Doctor was asking, and oh, Martin looked worried.

“Yes, but maybe we should wait a day or so, if we show up five minutes after I called, well Basira is going to assume Helen was involved and- well she already going to assume your an avatar of the Spiral, it’s probably not a good way to gain her trust back.

“Oh that shouldn’t be a problem, I’ll just jump ahead a day or so- perks of living in a time machine.” Martin quickly glanced to Jon in a slight panic- and it occurred to Jon that Martin had never explicitly been told that the TARDIS was a time machine as well as a spaceship. He shrugged apologetically, and Martin gave an exasperated eye roll and passed Jon a sandwich.

As Jon finished up his sandwich he gave a cursory perusal through the box of statements. There was one- statement of Hazel Rutter, that seemed to pull at him, but it was weak thanks to the TARDIS’s shielding; but Jon made a note to take a look at that particular statement once the situation with Daisy had been dealt with.

“Oh!” When Jon had looked up the Doctor had already punched in the coordinates and time and was about to pull the lever to set them off. “Jon would you like to do the honours?” Jon felt a little like a kid who was just asked if he wanted to push the button on the elevator. Because of course Jon did want to pull the lever, but did agreeing to it just prove he was a kid? He thought about saying no, to prove to himself that he could, but the TARDIS hummed gentle and encouraging in his mind and he caved.

The lever felt warm beneath his palm- the left one, his right hand had very little sensation. He pulled the lever down and launched them into the time vortex.

***

Basira was not having a great day. It had been three days since she had found Daisy and she hadn’t been back to the institute since, and it was starting to show. She was exhausted, and her head ached. She had no idea how Martin had sounded so healthy in the phone. Perhaps living with the Archivist gave him some kind of protection. Or maybe his connection to the Lonely did. Who knew.

It was infuriating because when she had gone on missions for Elias she hadn’t suffered like this, so she knew it was a punishment for skipping three days of work. Which was stupid. No one had even seen Elias since Jon had left the institute. But she couldn’t leave Daisy.

Daisy who was currently chained up in her basement- and Basira really wasn’t sure the chains would hold much longer. Daisy had moments of clarity where she begged Basira to kill her, but they were growing further and further apart.

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the knock on the door- her gun quickly finding her hand as she cautiously approached the door and looked through the spy hole.

Seeing that it was Jon and Martin in no way relaxed her guard. The blonde woman bouncing on her toes next to them just increased the suspicion. That woman was an automatic section 31 all on her own- with strict instructions to call officer Yazmin Khan to deal with her. So to see her here with the institutes own monster mascot was not what Basira would consider a good sign. But she was running out of options with Daisy and from what she recalled about the file of the blonde woman, she wasn’t considered to be dangerous in and of herself- she just tended to indicate that there was danger imminent. She very cautiously unlocked the door though her hand stayed on her gun.

“Do you know who that woman is?” She directed at Martin as the door swung open. The Doctor looked like she was about to say something in her own defence but Jon caught her and sent her a warning to stay quiet.

“Oh, uh Basira this is the Doctor,” the Doctor gave a little wave. “Doctor this is Basira.”

“You realize she is a section 31 all on her own right?”

“It’s not my fault you lot only show up to see when things are bad.” The Doctor said, Jon massaged his temples. This was going to be a disaster. “But I’m here to help.”

“You told her?” Basira said sharply to Jon.

“It’s- not, it’s complicated. May we come in? We have a great deal to explain and I think we may be able to help Daisy.” Basira glared at him for a long moment before finally stepping aside and allowing them entry. She guided them to the couch with the force of her glare.

“Talk.”

“Right, well it’s, I don’t- so” Jon stopped, he had no idea where to even start with this. It was far worse then when he came out as asexual. How does one come out as an alien?

“Basira I’m free. The Doctor showed Jon a way to free me from the Eye and from the Lonely. It’s- its really complicated but I think they can help- and it’s, well they are hardly going to make it worse for Daisy if they can’t.”

“How.” It wasn’t a question. They all looked at each other- Jon couldn’t think of a single thing he could say that would make Basira trust them.

“Look you either let us help, or tell us to leave. You don’t have another option right now.” The Doctor didn’t much care for guns, and she especially didn’t care to see a gun used so casually to threaten a child. Didn’t matter if Basira didn’t know. It was the principle of the thing.

“Fine. Daisy is downstairs- you may not want to get to close- your a monster. She doesn’t have a lot of lucid moments, so she’s going to try and kill you.” It wasn’t a warning so much as a fact. Jon knew it as well as anyone.

Basira was right though, Daisy didn’t look well, teeth longer then they should be, nails more like claws then not, she snarled at them and strained at the chains binding her to the wall.

“Better let me take this one Jon.” The Doctor whispered. She very carefully approached Daisy. Carefully keeping out of reach of the thrashing claws. “Daisy, hi, there, I’m the Doctor I’m here to help, I know it’s hard but if you can keep still for just ten seconds I can help you.” Daisy was a predator though, and a predator knows the advantages of an ambush. The Doctor was relaying on this, if she could get in to Daisys mind, for even a second she would be able to assess the damage. Maybe give Daisy a few moments of clarity or even begin to cut away the Parasite feeding on her. Daisy stilled and the Doctor knew the second she was in range that Daisy was going to pounce.

The Doctor was quicker. Drawing Daisys eyes one way and swooping into her temple with the other hand. It was as bad as she had thought. The Parasite had worked it’s way through Daisy’s entire system, it had been making changes to her body probably since childhood and had made itself a perfect home. But they were lucky, the Hunt was very physically rooted in her, with the right kind of medical treatment they should be able to remove it completely. Though there wouldn’t be much they could do about the changes it had already made. She pulled away quickly moving out of range.

“Jon?” Daisy’s voice sounded so much like it had in the buried, weak and tired. Her eyes didn’t seem to be focusing right either.

“Daisy I’m here-“ he looked at the Doctor , she gave him a nod. “We can help.” Daisy stared in his direction for a moment, her eyes finally seeming to focus on Jon.

“Why are you dressed like a pirate?” Jon laughed.

“It’s along story but-“ he looked at the Doctor prompting her to continue.

“We need to get you back to my-“ now the Doctor glanced at Basira. “My lab, I believe I’ll be able to treat you there.” Daisy nodded.

“I- can you knock me out- I don’t think I’ll last very long like this, and- and I hate being weak. The chains make it harder to stay me.” The Doctor nodded and gently reached out to Daisy’s temples, Daisy collapsed in a heap. The was a moment of silence.

“What the hell was that?” Basira asked- her gun trained on the Doctor.

“Right well, I don’t like guns, but it would be a lot easier to explain in my, lab.” She pulled her sonic from her pocket and undid Daisy’s chains and scooped her up, ignoring the gun trained at her back. Basira eventually put it away and followed them, not really feeling like there was a choice. The Doctor had managed to bring Daisy back for a moment.

Basira had been able to follow along quietly, until they reached a police box. An honest to god police box from the 60s. When Jon opened the door and she saw it was larger on the inside she panicked.

“Are you working with the Spiral now?” She asked Jon. “One fear god isn’t enough for you?” It was Martin who stepped in.

“For gods sake Basira the Doctor is an alien.” That, was not what Basira had been expecting him to say.

“What.”

“The Doctor is from, what was it? Gallifrey?” He looked to Jon who nodded. “She knows what she’s doing and she can help. She’s not the Spiral and she’s not with any of the entities.”

“I know you don’t trust us, but, I went into the Buried for Daisy, at least trust that I want to help?” Jon tried. And Basira finally relented. She didn’t believe the alien story for a moment, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t worked with the Spiral before, Helen had been helpful on occasion.

“Fine.” She followed them inside. The Doctor quickly led the to the sickbay.

“You two- say out of the way.” The doctor pointed with her nose to Basira and Martin, though she looked Martin in the eye as she said it and Martin got the distinct impression she was implying he should keep Basira out of the way. “If we do this wrong Daisy might wake up and kill us all.” She placed Daisy on the exam bed. “Right Jon, I need you to monitor her mind, make sure she stays under-“ She took a moment to reassure him when she saw doubt on his face. “It should be simple, she trusts you, all you have to do is keep her asleep.” It would be better if they could avoid using drugs, they would be unpredictable on Daisy’s altered physiology. And the Doctor figured Jon would feel more comfortable having something to do then being left on the sidelines. Besides, it was excellent positive reinforcement that being a telepath wasn’t bad or evil. And Jon needed that.

He positioned himself behind Daisy’s head finger tips at her temples and desperately not thinking about Basira standing against the wall with Martin. Jon could feel the Hunt pulsing through Daisy’s mind in time with her blood.

It wasn’t like the Eye or the Lonely, it was more grounded, it may have started in her mind but it’s tendrils had crept down the spine and into every part of her physical body. Jon was peripherally aware of the Doctor running all sorts of different tests and scans.

“Right it’s completely fused to her nervous system, but the largest collections are spread throughout the Endocrine system so even if she manages to wrestle her mind back it causes a massive dump of hormones making it impossible to think clearly. I may be able to-“ Jon was only half hearing her and he was quite certain she was speaking to herself anyway.

The Doctor started some kind of IV line, and told Jon it was ok to step back now. She turned to the two standing by the wall Basira look furious and Martin concerned, though the concern seemed to be more about Basira then Daisy at the moment.

“So.” The Doctor clapped her hands together. “I’m going to make a few calls and consult with some folk, but at the very least, when she wakes up I think I’ve been able to suppress the parasitic influence.” There was a 50% chance that when Daisy awoke she wouldn’t be able to move, but that would probably be temporary as they found the correct dosage. They were essentially suppressing both Daisy’s voluntary nervous system as well as blocking most of her ability to react to her bodies hormones. It wouldn’t be a feasible long term solution, but the Doctor knew some cat nuns at a hospital in the future that might have better suggestions to purge Daisy of the Hunt.

“What are you?” Basira asked. And Jon felt the hair at the back of his neck stand on end, he could feel Basira watching them- or not just Basira. He could feel It watching them. They needed to break her connection to the Eye and fast. Jon glanced at the Doctor and he could see she was thinking the same thing. The Doctor began to speak spewing out all sorts of things about time, and alien planets. And Jon snuck around from the side trying to look like he was heading for Martin. At the last second he reached up to try and get his fingers on Basira’s temples and he could see the Doctor dive too, but Basira was fast pulling her gun and firing. Clipping the Doctors arm causing her to drop. But it gave Jon the opening he needed to slip into her mind.

It felt disturbingly like preforming surgery on Melanie while she had been sleeping. Jon tried not to feel like a monster for invading her mind. It was harder then it had been with Martin. Not only was the Eye fighting him but Basira herself was too. The Eye has a far deeper hold on her then he would have thought. He pushed a bit deeper into her mind trying to find the root to cut it out.

“Hello Jon.” Magnus. Jon felt ice coursing through his veins. “Don’t think I’m going to let this one go. I let you have your Martin, but the Detective is mine.” Jon could feel the tendrils of the Eye winding deeper- joined and strengthened by another mind, Jon could feel the difference now, and Magnus’s mind felt slimy and wrong- he could feel it testing at the edge of his own mind testing at his defences.

“No!” He tried to pull out but he was trapped, he’d gone too deeply into Basira’s mind and Magnus had him, he could- oh. There was another mind. It grabbed him and pulled. Shielding him from Magnus.

“Together.” He heard whispered through the teaching bond- and she guided him deeper, when they finally cut the connection and withdrew all of them were sprawled out on the floor. Martin was doing his best to stop the blood gushing from the Doctor left arm though her hand was clutching Jon’s all the same, her right fingers had been on Basira’s temples, but now moved to her own.

Martin had torn the sleeve of her shirt and tried to use it to slow the blood flow. But it didn’t seem to be making much difference.

“Ouch.” She said. Jon tried to move to help but found he felt incredibly dizzy- like all of him wasn’t quite in his own body. He focused on the ship to steady himself.

“Are you alright?” He asked her- though the question was as much directed at Martin.

“She’s losing blood fast I don’t-“

“I’ll be fine just-“ She shakily pulled herself to her feet haphazardly pulling open a drawer and tearing the makeshift bandage from her arm she slapped something over the wound, sighing in relief. The new bandage glowed slightly. “There we go, should be healed right up in an hour or so. Now let get her into a bed.” Jon carefully picked Basira up, she wasn’t as heavy as he would have thought.

“Are you ok Jon?” Martin asked, somewhat in awe of how easily the skinny man was carrying Basira.

“Yes I- well no, not really but not for the reason you think.” Jon finally settled on, placing Basira on a bed next to Daisy. He looked at the Doctor, then back to Martin. He sighed. “I could, I could really use a cup of tea.” What he really wanted was a cigarette but he could feel the TARDIS would not approve of such things- so he compromised.

“Tea and battle plans.” The Doctor agreed. “Oh and I have biscuits!” They made their way to the kitchen Daisy and Basira would be our for a while. They had time.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here you guys go! Your comments are my main source of social interaction right now and I adore every single one of you who comments.

Chapter 16

It started as a sort of itching in his mind. With the tea drank and biscuits eaten Jon and Martin had retired to their room, Jon had made sure to grab the box of statements first though. He didn’t want to record them with Martin in the room, not that he could at the moment without a tape recorder. He got the distinct feeling the TARDIS didn’t really want him to record them either, but for the last hour it had been all he could think about. 

Finally Jon gave up and grabbed a few from the box while Martin wasn’t looking. 

“I’m going to go to the library for a bit, I’m getting antsy.” Martin looked up from the book he had been reading on his phone. 

“Oh, do you want some company?” Jon shook his head.

“No I’m alright, I just need to stretch my legs some.” Which Jon firmly believed was the case. The statements he’d shoved into his pockets were just in case. So far he hadn’t been tempted to take live statements since he came on board the TARDIS but it was better safe then sorry. 

“Alright. I should probably go check on Basira anyway. She’s less likely to murder me if I’m the one she wakes up to, you may want to avoid the sick bay actually” Martin added as an afterthought. And yes, Jon considered he was probably right. 

“Good, right yes- that’s, good.” Jon hesitated a moment, wanting to kiss Martin in the check, but not knowing where the other stood, they hadn’t really spoken about their relationship in light of Jon’s alien status, and- not that he had really been human before, but- well maybe Martin wouldn’t want to kiss him anymore? Jon hesitated a bit too long however, because Martin stood up and kissed Jon on the cheek instead. 

“I’ll come get you when I think it’s safe for you to see them.” He added before leaving Jon alone in their room. With the box of statements. Jon’s hand edged towards the one in his pocket- but he felt a gentle hum in his mind from the TARDIS, prompting him to go to the library. Jon shook his head to clear it. Maybe he should go see what the Doctor was up to, perhaps he could help with whatever she was working on to help Daisy. 

***

Daisy didn’t know where she was. But she was aware enough to be aware of the fact that she didn’t know where she was, so that was an excellent starting point. She took stock of her surroundings. She wasn’t chained down, which she wasn’t sure was necessarily a good thing, but it did put her mind at ease. Being restrained in any way after the Buried was, bad. There was an IV in her left hand feeding something vaguely purple coloured into her. 

Daisy resisted the instinct to pull it out and- oh, she could resist instincts. That was probably a good sign. The room didn’t look like any hospital she had ever seen, she very cautiously sat up. Her movements felt slow, like it was hard to get any part of her to move. Not unlike the muscle atrophy after coming out of the Buried. She could see Basira was lying down asleep next to her and- 

“Oh! Daisy! Your awake!” There was Martin. She didn’t feel an immediate desire to kill him, that was nice- actually, that was weird. She knew Martin had been around Perter Lukas, he was touched by two entities, he shouldn’t read as completely human, but he did? It didn’t make any sense. 

“Martin? What happened?” Collect the data first then figure out what was going on. 

“Oh- uh well,” Martin sighed. Why was it that he kept getting put in the position where he had to explain everything. “Right so- we made- a- uh, a friend, who-“ Martin sighed and ran his hands over his face. “Turns our aliens are real? And one of them has been helping us. She- she calls herself the Doctor and-“ Daisy groaned. 

“Is she, by any chance a short blonde woman?” Daisy had a vague recollection of seeing her back at Basira’s house, but she also recalled seeing Jon dresses like a pirate so she doubted those memories somewhat. 

“I yeah, do you remember her then?” And yep, there it was. 

“She’s an automatic section 31.” Daisy replied. She had always sort of suspected the woman must have been an Avatar of the End, since most of the cases that seemed to involve her had some kind of extremely bizarre death attached to them. Daisy had been lucky to never have to deal with her directly. But she had worked with Yaz Kahn on a few calls- and if Yaz was coming from the perspective of some of the weird things they faced being alien in origin- well it did explain her lack of fear about certain calls at least. 

“Right- yes I think Basira mentioned that. So we are in her spaceship- and I should really call someone to look you over-“ he paused. “If Jon comes in here are you going to- well, you know.” Daisy gave it a moment of thought. She still felt the blood, but it was distant, she was clearer.

“I think he should be fine to come in.” She said after a moment. Martin seemed to be himself entity free, so it was telling that he would feel the need to ask that, she assumed that Jon must be still fully in the grip of the Eye then. It didn’t really bode well for any potential freedom from the Hunt she might be able to hope for. Martin nodded at her and went over to something on the wall that Daisy assumes was an intercom of sorts. A moment later the short blonde woman came into the room. She pricked every one of Daisy’s senses. The woman wasn’t Human, not even a little, but she wasn’t prey, Daisy fought down the urge to snarl. 

“Hello! I’m the Doctor, how are you feeling Daisy?” She didn’t talk like one might expect an alien to, but Daisy didn’t doubt that Martin had been telling the truth. 

“I’m awake.” She offered cautiously. Then she saw Jon enter- and her hackles rose again, but not for the reason she expected. Jon had never read as Human, not exactly. When they first met he read as something in between and after he pulled her out of the Buried he read as inhuman, a predator, but now. The feeling of being watched that seemed to surround him before was diminished. Still there but faint, almost ignorable. Now Jon read suspiciously similar to the blonde. Daisy suspected if she smelled them they would even smell similar.

“Daisy?” Jon asked, there was fear in his voice and a part of her that she wished was more distant rejoiced in it. 

“Jon- it’s good to see you.” She said. And it was. For all that Jon read, wrong, by her senses. She could tell it was still Jon and he looked healthier then she had ever seen him.   
“Even if you are dressed like a pirate. It’s- you look good.” Apparently her memories were better then she had thought. She was going to have to get the story of that outfit out of him at some point. Jon fidgeted with one of his shirt sleeves. 

“So the cat nuns- obviously wanted me to bring you in the hospital, but I figured, big loud noisy hospital, you’ll probably be more comfortable being treated here, no awkward questions either.” Mostly about her lack of immunizations for diseases humanity hadn’t even encountered yet. 

“We can’t separate you from the Hunt” Jon cut in, well aware by this point of the Doctors tendency to ramble. “It’s too entwined with your physical body, but we’ve been able to sever as much of your psychic link to it as we can, and with the right medications we think we can prevent you from feeling it’s influence- for the most part.” 

“Is that what this is?” She gestured to the IV line. 

“Sort of, we’ll have to play around to find the right drug combination for you, but that’s the second round of heavy duty anti parasitics. Once you finish that line, it should weaken the parasite- the Hunt enough that we can start looking at managing your symptoms.” The woman, was checking some kind of read out as she spoke. Daisy was overwhelmed. They were treating the eldritch fear god that had latched onto her like a tapeworm. And it was working. 

“And Basira?” She asked. 

“Oh!” Jon perked up. “Actually she’s fine, she’s free, she, well the Eye hadn’t had her as long, we managed to break the connection, no eye removal necessary.” Daisy made note of his use of we, so he was involved in this more then just being friends with the alien. “It just, well the process can be taxing on a Human mind, she’ll wake up in a few hours.” He scratched the back of his neck then mumbled “Likely with a desire to kill me again.” It didn’t surprise Daisy that Jon used the term Human in a way that seemed to imply exclusion for himself. What surprised her, was the lack of self depreciating laugh. Jon seemed, more at piece then she’d ever seen him. Even the perpetual eye bags he had were lighter. 

“How.” Nothing worked out that well for them there had to be a catch. Jon turned a little red and Daisy listened for his heartbeat in preparation to check for lies- but it was, wrong. Very wrong. 

“Well, the thing is- right so, I’m an alien?” He finally ventured. Which, alright. Daisy could see it if he was the same as the Doctor. “And well, it’s, well it turns out my compelling people wasn’t entirely an Avatar thing? It was an alien thing? And I-“ but this point Martin had reached Jon and grabbed his hand and the Doctor had closed ranks in Jon’s other side silently offering her support. “Well the psychic, abilities I had, have, are natural for- for thing- beings like me.” He corrected his self depreciating slip with a quick glance to the Doctor. “The entities are like psychic parasites, at least the Eye is, and if you have psychic abilities, or, well telepathy. It’s possible to sever the connection.” Jon was looking at her now through his eyelashes, like a little kid afraid she was going to yell at him. 

“Huh. That’s- a lot.” She said. The tension bled out of Jon somewhat. “You didn’t used to be an alien.” She finally added. 

“I- well, no, it’s- it’s complicated.” 

“Why don’t we move this to the kitchen, it’s nearly dinner time anyway.” Martin cut in. There was a lot to cover and Jon and Daisy both were too skinny. Daisy nodded and watched as the Doctor attached her IV to a pole. She followed them to the kitchen, sat down at the table, and while the Doctor and Martin moved about the kitchen getting food ready, and then just Martin as he quickly shoed her back to the table. Daisy looked at the two alleged aliens. 

“Start at the beginning.”

***

“Wait Jon is a kid?!??” Jon had been dreading this part, he had been rather hoping there was a way to leave it out, but in order to explain why he was still so thoroughly connected to the Eye it had been necessary to explain Time Lord brain development. Which clues Daisy in to the fact that his age may not have been as straightforward as being 33. 

“I’m not a child. I’m still 33.” He said testily. 

“Yeah, but you won’t reach maturity until 200.” Daisy countered. 

“It’s a little more complicated then that.” The Doctor threw in. “Because he grew up Human, Jon’s ageing was accelerated in certain ways, obviously he looks a lot older then he may have had he grown up on Gallifrey, there isn’t really a Human equivalent here. He is both a fully mature human man, and still a child by Gallifreyan standards.” Jon looked deeply uncomfortable but he couldn’t really dispute it, and Daisy needed to know the truth. He could feel the Doctor probing along the teaching bond checking if it was ok to continue and he gave her the go ahead. “What was done to Jon was abhorrent and if Gallifrey still existed Jonah Magnus would have faced death for it.”

Daisy looked at the scars littering Jon’s body, including the ones she had put there and felt a pang of guilt. She allowed herself to feel it for a moment before pushing it away. It wasn’t going to fix the situation. She would just need to be better. She had seen a lot of truly terrible things done to children from her time on the force. She promised herself that she would do what she could for Jon, she owed him her life twice over, and thinking back on all the things he had been through, well Jonah Magnus was just going to have to die.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I was a little worried about this chapter, but if I edit it anymore I’m going to be to nervous to post it. 
> 
> The next chapter will either be up tomorrow, or Monday, as I live pretty close to a bunch of national parks and I’m probably going to camping this weekend, cuz if I have to live in complete isolation, I may as well be isolating in a place I can go hiking. (I live in the prairies and it’s very possible to wander into the forest for days and not come across a single soul, so it’s quarantine safe, and I know my way around the forests 😊)
> 
> Your comments are always the absolute highlight of my day and they really inspire me to keep going on this fic, so thank you all so much.

Chapter 17

Eventually Daisy went back to the sick bay, the medication was making her sleepy, and she figured she should be there when Basira woke up. The Doctor went back to researching ways to free Jon from the Eye and Martin had begun to catalogue the kitchen with an efficiency that would have served him well in the Archives their first year; if he’d been able to translate it to sorting statements that was. 

Jon was restless, he felt like he wasn’t sure if he was hungry, bored, or tired- and unfortunately for him two of those three could have disastrous consequences. He wished he had a cigarette, but his pack was back at the cottage. Though he supposed they were back in London, he could probably just pop out and grab a pack- wait, no, never mind his wallet was still back at the cottage. He started wandering. It had been a while since he had had the chance to be bored enough that his tendency to wander had acted up. He supposed he could explore the TARDIS, but with her humming gently in his head he already knew where everything was, so it didn’t really seem worth it. 

He ended up back in the main control room after a while, and something on the floor caught his attention. It was one of the tape recorders. Well, Jon supposed it wouldn’t really hurt anyone if he was to read an older statement, maybe he was hungry, now that he thought about it he certainly felt hungry. And the statement he had shoved into his pocket was just begging to be read. 

The TARDIS was parked in the alley behind Basira’s house, so her backyard was easily accessible. It wasn’t ideal, but Jon supposed it was as good a place to read a statement as any, best not to read it in the TARDIS, he wasn’t sure why but something told him it would be a very bad idea. 

Maybe it was trying to stop him? But no, that couldn’t be it- he could feel that the TARDIS cared for him and he needed that statement, surely she wouldn’t prevent him from something he needed. It was probably just that he couldn’t properly feed the Eye on board, that’s why he felt so drawn to leave. Jon nodded to himself. It wasn’t a very long statement. He’d be gone for 15 minutes at most, no one would miss him if he just popped over into the backyard. Really, Jon told himself it was the responsible thing to do, if he wasn’t hungry the risk of hurting someone he cared about by accidentally compelling them would be a great deal less. 

He conveniently forgot of course that he hadn’t really accidentally compelled anyone since meeting the Doctor- not really anyway. 

Jon slipped outside holding the tape recorder. He settled himself sitting down against the fence, and turned the recorder on. 

“Funny it’s been a while since I’ve had to turn one of these on manually. Right well- statement of Hazel Rutter regarding a fire in her childhood home, original statement given August 9th, 1992. Audio recording by Jonathon Sims, the Archivist. Statement begins,

Hello Jon apologies for the deception, but I wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself.

I’m assuming you’re alone; you always did prefer to read your statements in private.” Jon tried to close his eyes, to crumple the paper, to do anything to stop reading but it was no good, not when he had already begun. He was caught too deeply. 

“I wouldn’t try too hard to stop reading; there’s every likelihood you’ll just hurt yourself. So just listen. 

Now, shall we turn the page and try again?” Jon turned the page over tears forming in his eyes as he tried to resist. 

“Statement of Jonah Magnus regarding Jonishdrusormilisa, also known as Jonathan Sims, The Archivist. Statement begins.

I hope you’ll forgive me the self-indulgence, but I have worked so very hard for this moment, a culmination of three centuries of work. It’s rare that you get the chance to monologue through another, and you can’t tell me you’re not curious.

Why does a man seek to destroy the world?

It’s a simple enough answer. I don’t. By the time you read this you will have regained your memories of Gallifrey, so you will know that our people are Watchers. We watch and are forbidden from interfering. It’s an awful thing to know about yourself that you can willingly watch billions die and feel nothing. But there is such freedom in it Jon. The Dread powers emerged from fear, the animal fear of being eaten became the flesh, the human fear of our own brutality the slaughter. But the Beholding? Well we created that fear, our people- we are all connected to it in a way. Oh they try and block it out, with psychic shields and safety nets, but we are the Watchers. We are those who observe all that is around us and do nothing. 

And why would we do anything? When there is so much to  See ? I wanted nothing more then to understand to truly know and see, and well I suppose our Patron May have enticed me, we are an old race Jon, but there is so much still that we have not seen, so much hidden. And well, even immortality grows tiresome without a goal. Our people would never accept that the Beholding, the Watcher was the truest patron of our kind, not without a proof of concept as it were so I came to Earth. 

When Smirke first approached me and gathered me in to his little band – Lukas, Scott, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of the things he had learned from Rayner, I felt what I believe we all felt: curiosity, and fear. But as he compiled his taxonomy and codified his theories on the grand rituals, I began to develop a very specific concern. Smirke was so obsessed with his ideas on balance, even as our fellows began to experiment and fall to the service of our patrons. I began to worry that if one of them successfully attempted their ritual, then I would be as much a victim as any, trapped in the nightmare landscape of a twisted world. 

Oh I didn’t expect any of their rituals might be powerful enough to release the powers beyond the scope of the planet- I just feared I may be trapped here with them, unable to fly away to a different, experimental field as it were. The Dread powers do have a rather unfortunate effect on most technology don’t they? 

It took years for me to find a way to tie Time Lord technology to them, finally requiring me to dismantle my TARDIS, and rebuild it into the very walls of Millbank Prison, it’s psychic circuits absorbing the misery and hopelessness of the prisoners it housed. But it took time, I was an old man before I made my first attempt at the Watcher’s Crown, sat in the center of that colossal eye, the great ring of cells encircling me like a coronet.

It was… flawed, of course, as all Smirke’s rituals were, and none of the inmates survived as the power I attempted to harness shook the building, and my TARDIS almost to pieces, and the murky swamp upon which the prison was built consumed it. But it left me a gift: For sat in that watchtower, I could see everything I turned my mind to.

It was a dizzying power, and one I discovered I maintained even as I regenerated to extend my life. Of course, I had to make sure the location was kept under my control while I worked on revising my plans, and so I moved the organization I had founded to assist in my research down to London, and the Institute as you know it was born. 

This is the part I’m sure your dying to know, where do you come in dear Jon, with my TARDIS. Tied to the panopticon I was unable to return to Gallifrey for many years, it takes time to build solutions to such problems and even a basic vortex manipulator took me decades to complete. 

I’ll not bore you with details of my failures through those intervening years. Suffice to say I kept busy, both building a way home, and planning my own next ritual attempt, and doing my best to stymie those others who tried versions of their own.

Surely my interpretation of the Watcher’s Crown had been incomplete; there had been some element of the ritual I had overlooked. It was not until I met Gertrude Robinson that things began to really come into focus. You see, the role of Archivist has been part of the Beholding for as far back as my research can go. This isn’t uncommon for the Powers; most of the beliefs around them are guesswork and fallible Human interpretation, and what Human interpretation could compare to that of a Time Lord? But there are certain throughlines and consistencies that can be spotted, regardless of what species may have made the initial observations.

Gertrude though, was unlike any other Archivist. She simply did not care about compiling experiences or collecting the fears of others. She was driven to stop those who served the Powers. More than once I thought she must secretly be of the Hunt – but there was never that sick joy in her, that thrill of predator and prey. She had simply decided that this was her position in life, and went about it with a practicality that even I found disconcerting at times.

I once asked her what drove her, what had started her down that path. She told me the Desolation had killed her cat. I don’t know if she was joking, and, to be honest, I could never bring myself to look into her mind and find out for sure.

In any case, Gertrude’s ruthless efficiency in derailing and collapsing rituals threw into stark relief a question that had been bothering me for almost a hundred and fifty years: In the whole span of humanity, why had nobody ever succeeded? Or more importantly, why had I with all the technological prowess of Gallifrey failed?

Perhaps there were a long line of Gertrude Robinsons throughout history, but I found that hard to credit. Could it be, then, that there was something in the very concept of the rituals that meant they couldn’t succeed? She was clearly having similar thoughts in that last year, all of which culminated with the People’s Church.

When I saw that she was making no preparations whatsoever to stop it, I realized she was putting into practice a theory, and one she couldn’t afford to be wrong. She was going to wait, and see if the unopposed ritual succeeded, or if it collapsed under its own strain as mine had all hose years ago.

Knowing Gertrude, I’m sure she had a backup plan if she had miscalculated – but she had not. The ritual failed. And all at once, I realized what had to be done.

You see, the thing about the Fears is that they can never be truly separated from each other. When does the fear of sudden violence transition into the fear of hunted prey? When does the mask of the Stranger become the deception of the Spiral?

Even those that seem to exist in direct opposition rely on each other for their definition as much as up relies on down.

To try and create a world with only the Buried makes as much sense as trying to conceive a world with only down.

Every ritual tied itself so closely to a single power as to render itself impossible. They could bring their patron close, but never sever it from the others, and eventually it would be violently pulled back into the place next to reality where they dwell.

The solution, then, is simple: A new ritual must be devised which will bring through all the Powers at once. All fourteen, as I had hoped I could complete it before any new powers such as Extinction were able to fully emerge. All under the Eye’s auspices, of course. We mustn’t forget our roots.

And there was only one being that could possibly serve as a lynchpin for this new ritual: The Archivist. A position that had so recently become vacant, thanks to Gertrude’s ill-timed retirement plans. I knew no human would be able to withstand the strain, and why would I trust the fate of something so important to one of them? Time is little more then a plaything for us Jon. 

I had finished my vortex manipulator years ago, but I had never really had a reason to go home, but I did now. It was simple really, our people had perfected the use of Looms to grow children eons ago, it was a simple matter to select the traits I desired for such an Archivist. The perfect, Archivist. Strong telepathic capabilities, but raised in isolation of any telepathic species, the Eye had you before you were even two weeks old. 

But I made the mistake of staying on Gallifrey to let you grow, and even I don’t see everything. Not yet. You were taken from me and I only barely managed to avoid incarceration, I had to regenerate again, and because I had never formed a familial bond with you I was unable to find you. You might have been free Jon, you really might have, if not for the turbulence of the time war. I was able to find you and secret you away to Earth. 

It left me with a problem though. With Gertrude dead the last thing I wanted was an inferior Archivist to hold your place until you were old enough- and frankly Jon I had very little patience to wait the 200 odd years it would take for you to grow up. So I severed all of your familial bonds- with half of them dead anyway it wasn’t hard, and I used the Chameleon Arch, it turned you Human. You would grow and eventually when the time was right the lock would break and you would be the most powerful Archivist to ever live, strong enough to carry the strain of bringing all 14 Powers through. 

I dropped you off some years in the past, your grandmother was picked at random. A little psychic manipulation on my part and she was none the wiser. I did ensure she was never completely comfortable with you, it wouldn’t have done for you to grow up, and not crave the approval you never received from her. 

I did however leave you with a gift, I needed a way to track you, that left your mind gloriously free for our Patron to latch onto, there are nanites in your blood Jon, your very blood never even gave you a chance at a different path. 

So imagine my delighted surprise when you arrived at my institution all on your own, already marked by the Spider. Ignorant but already doing so well, with each mark from one of the entities you bore I grew closer to my goal, because, the thing about the Archivist is that – well, it’s a bit of a misnomer.

It might, perhaps, be better named: The Archive.

Because you do not administer and preserve the records of fear, Jon. You are a record of fear, both in mind as you walk the shuddering record of each statement, and in body as the Powers each leave their mark upon you.

You are a living chronicle of terror.

The perfect conduit for the terror the Dread Powers embody. Oh I don’t want you to think this was destined for you Jon, had it not been for the time war, you would have escaped all this, this was never fate for you. Just your own rotten luck. Although with Gallifrey gone now, having never existed, you might consider yourself lucky, the Chameleon Arch granted you protection from the fallout, just as my place in the Panopticon and our patron granted me protection. 

I’ll not bore you with the tale of how I arranged encounters with each power, ensuring you bore the marks of them all- though I will tell you it was a neat thing with Terminus. Death is such a tricky thing for us Time Lords. Too soon before the Chameleon Arch broke and you might simply die, too late and you would regenerate, and I didn’t wish to risk that it might undo any marks you already bore. It wasn’t worth the risk. But with the Unknowning the time worked perfectly, you fell into a healing coma, still Human enough to be close to death, but Time Lord enough not to die. 

Perhaps if you had simply waited long enough you would have recover just fine on your own, without our Patrons intervention. But you made a choice Jon, and I couldn’t have been prouder. 

And there, I think, we are brought just about up to date. I have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane, but past here lies only impatience.

You are prepared. You are ready. You are marked. The power of the Ceaseless Watcher flows through you, and the time of our victory is here.” 

Jon fought against it tears streaming down his face, he reached out desperately for the TARDIS, for the Doctor, but he couldn’t drag his focus away from the statement for long enough to know if he made contact. 

“Don’t worry, Jon. You’ll get used to it here, in the world that we have made.

Now. Repeat after me.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I couldn’t leave it like that, I’m not that cruel. Thank you all so much for your comments! I’m bad at responding to them but feel free to shoot me a message on tumblr if you want to chat @nireidi 😊 Your comments are all always the bright points of my day!

Chapter 18

Something was very wrong. The lights of the TARDIS had begun to flash in colours that the Human mind couldn’t even comprehend, and the Doctor knew something very very bad was happening. She needed to find Jon, and she had a feeling she didn’t have a great deal of time. 

She tried to reach out through their teaching bond, and then just as one Time Lord to another, but there was something blocking her. The Eye or Magnus, it had to be. It felt; slimy to try and push her mind against it to break through. She had to think where could Jon be? With his connection to the TARDIS he knew the ship as well as she did! Which- actually the TARDIS probably wouldn’t be panicking if Jon was here. Ok so either he left the ship on his own or he was kidnapped. 

The Doctor didn’t bother trying to find the others on the ship, she just bolted out the door into the fading brightness of the evening. 

“Jon?” 

“Now. Repeat after me.” That wasn’t Jon’s voice, but the sheer malice that came through immediately had the Doctor’s teeth on edge. 

“You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend. You who wait and wait and drink in all that is not yours by right.” That was Jon, there was an edge of manic horror painting the fanaticism in his voice. Everything about it was wrong. 

“Come to us in your wholeness. Come to us in your perfection.” It was Jon saying the words but the Doctor knew in that moment he was not the one speaking. She ran through the fence, fumbling with the lock on the gate for a moment before giving up and vaulting over it instead. 

“Bring all that is fear and all that is terror and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and leads and dies!

Come to us.”There was no time she had to do something now. She dove for Jon, his eyes meeting hers in absolute horror, unable to stop his lips from forming the words that were left on the page, begging her to end it. 

“I-“ She reached for his temples, and without taking so much as a second to apologize, she dove into his mind. He let out a strangled gasp, unable to speak as the pressure of he attack pushed the air from his body. The Doctor could see them all, tendrils she had thought were only the Watcher, but no, there was fourteen of them. Fourteen parasites feeding off Jon, anchoring to him, using him like a homing beacon to rip and rend their way into reality. 

The Doctor saw it all and she was afraid. 

She felt Jon’s mind tremble, as his body fought to continue speaking the final words that would allow the Parasites access to his wholeness. She couldn’t sever him from them, but she could help him fight. 

She dove deeper into his mind, reaching into his core, he already had a tendency to let his mind wander, so pulled him from his body into her own mind. And both collapsed under the strain. Physical bodies loosing meaning as they entered the Doctors mind scape. 

The sky was burnt orange. That was the first thing Jon noticed. He was standing in a field of silver grass under a burnt orange sky. He knew he probably wasn’t safe, even here but for a moment he could almost imagine he was. 

“Jon.” He turned around, the Doctor was there, orangey blood dripping from her nose and collecting in her ears. “I’m so sorry Jon.” The memories of the statement came flooding back and the peace Jon felt was replaced with horror. 

“Oh god I destroyed the world. It’s all my fault.” She had to kill him it was the only thing that made sense. 

“No! No, I got to you in time, but they are latched on to you now, I don’t think I can hold them off for long.”

“What can we do?” Jon could feel panic seeping into his words even as he tried to stay calm. 

“The foothold they have on your mind is too strong, we need to break the connection or at least weaken their grip.” She meant, oh. It seemed so simple. 

“A familial bond.” Something to weaken the foothold situation in Jon’s mind, and help to share the load of fighting the Powers. The Doctor nodded looking pained. 

“I am so sorry you don’t get to choose this. It’s not fair to you to force this on you, but I don’t see another choice.” 

“I- I should be the one apologizing to you, you didn’t ask for this and it’s all my fault.” Tears were streaming freely down Jon’s face now. The Doctor grabbed his shoulders pulling him into a hug. 

“None of this is your fault Jon.”

“I, I consent.” He whispered against her shoulder. Then, old memories sparking he added. “I, Jonishdrusormilisa, Jonathon Sims; do consent to join your house, I consent to this adoption.” She squeezed him a tiny bit tighter. 

“Jonishdrusormilisa, Jonathon Sims, Jon, I take you willingly into my house.” Jon felt a a gentle warmth suffuse him and he closed his eyes. 

After a while he felt his body again. His mouth was filled with blood from where he had tried to bite his tongue to stop reading and he felt exhausted on every level. He could still feel them. All fourteen looking for an opening. But he could also feel the Doctor, feel her affection and worry, and she helped him to his feet. She crushed the tape recorder under her foot

“Come on, lets get you back inside.” She carefully extracted the statement from his numb fingers. 

“Oh god- oh god I almost, I-“ Jon started to laugh, or maybe sob, he couldn’t really tell. The Doctor guided him gently towards the TARDIS. She was concerned that Magnus might be Watching them, and with his plans disrupted she didn’t know what he might do. She could feel unseen eyes on her back though and took a moment to give Magnus the Gallifreyan version of the middle finger. It was nice to be able to flip someone off in her native language. 

She felt a pressure against her own mental shields and she increased the speed with which she was guiding Jon into the TARDIS. She wanted to get them safety into the Time Vortex and out of this time period on earth as soon as possible. The gateway Jon had begun to open was a little too fragile here and the further away from it he was the better. 

The weight abruptly lifted once the doors of the TARDIS closed behind them. And Jon sighed in relief as some of the pressure in his mind lifted. 

“Do you think you can stand Jon?” The Doctor asked gently. Jon didn’t trust his voice yet, terrified if he tried to speak the last three words of the statement would come flooding out. He started to nod, but then shook his head. He still felt a little disconnected from his body. “Right, well I’m just going to set you down here for a moment then.” The Doctor carefully propped him up against the control console. “Then I’m moving us into the Time Vortex, the more distance between us and Magnus the better.” Jon nodded. He couldn’t find any fault with that. He let the groan and whine of the engines soothe his shattered nerves. 

The worst part was how good it had felt. How right. Jon buried his face in his hands. The Doctor flipped a switch to activate the autopilot. Then she quickly wiped away the blood from her nose and ears. She looked at the paper she had taken from Jon sitting innocently on the TARDIS console and quickly skimmed through it, before crumpling it up and shoving it deep into one of her pockets and sitting down next to Jon. 

“I’m so sorry Jon.” She wished she had something more she could say. He made an incredulous noise. Still too afraid to speak, but she heard his response loud and clear through their bond. 

‘ _I’m the one who nearly ended the world. I should be apologizing to you, you were just trying to help and now I’ve dragged you into this nightmare._ ’  She clamped down on the instinct to wince, she could feel his self loathing through the bond.

“Jon, I’m no stranger to the end of the world. So don’t worry about that. I probably would have ended up involved even without your message. I’m glad I could be here to help. But Jon, this bond, it’s not something I’m going to be able to undo, even if we can find a way to fully sever you from the Powers, your mind would be completely vulnerable.” She tried to limit the amount of her own guilt that might leak through but she knew he could probably feel it anyway. Jon leaned his head into her shoulder, eyes still closed. They stayed there like that until Martin finally found them nearly an hour later. 


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright- I’m back from my sojourn in the forest- May have to try that again when there’s less snow, but it was a lovely plus 12 today so that is t shirt weather at least ! 
> 
> This chapter was so hard to write. I have no idea why but I probably rewrote it about 12 dozen times, so I’d really appreciate your feedback here, thank you all so much to everyone who reviewed, it really is so meaningful to me.

Martin was understandably shaken when the Doctor explained what had happened, it didn’t help that Jon was still too afraid to speak least those final three words slip out. The trouble was the Doctor didn’t think the fear was unfounded. It really wouldn’t take much for Jon to fully open the gate to pull things through. But he should be safe here, her own shields and the TARDIS covering Jon as much as possible and the time vortex meaning that even if he did open a gate the worst that would happen was eldritch fear monsters would live in the vortex. And the Doctor was fairly certain that there were already eldritch monsters living in the time vortex so that was probably fine. Maybe. She sighed. 

“You two should probably get some sleep it’s getting late, we can work out a plan in the morning.” Martin nodded he felt drained after hearing what had happened and reading the fragment of the statement the Doctor had shown him and he wasn’t even the one who had nearly had 14 eldritch fear gods channeled through his mind. He scooped Jon up in his arms. Jon weighed next to nothing, being half starved and malnourished and the small amount of weight he had begun to gain since they had moved to Scotland seemed to be sucked away by the stress of this encounter. 

Jon seemed to protest weakly but since he still wasn’t talking Martin couldn’t be sure. The Doctor brushed a strand of hair from Jon’s face. 

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen.” Martin have her a questioning look. “He’s worried about showing up in people’s nightmares. But I’ll be able to prevent him- help act as an anchor to his consciousness.” She turned back to Jon. “The furthest you’ll wander is my mind, I promise; and that isn’t any trouble at all.” Jon relaxed in Martins arms some and he walked them back to their room. 

Martin had, at some point during the day returned to the wardrobe room to scavenge some Pajamas for them. Though the shirt that said fashion statement that he had grabbed for Jon now seemed like it would be in poor taste. He wasn’t sure what to do until Jon stood up off the bed and looked over his shoulder. 

Jon began to laugh. Actually laugh too- not the half mad strangled sound he made when he was terrified. There were tears streaming down Jon’s face and when he could finally breath again he mouthed the words ‘thank you’ and took the shirt. 

Jon was glad it was long sleeved, he didn’t think he could really handle seeing his scars right now. He took the shirt and sleep pants from Martin and shut his eyes to change. Then he sat on the bed and waited. He didn’t need to wait long, Martin seemed to know what he needed instinctively and sat down beside Jon and grabbed his hand. 

“If you- if your scared to talk you can do the-“ Martin waved his hand in a vague way that Jon assumes referred to telepathy, and Jon very carefully shook his head- it wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but the balance of his mind felt fragile, breakable right now, like adding someone else into that space might shatter him completely. 

“Ok- it was- no pressure, I just thought-“ Jon squeezed his hand, hoping to convey that it wasn’t a rejection. “Oh- uh how about this?” Martin pulled out his phone and offered it to Jon. He took it and typed out a single sentence. 

I love you. 

Martin pulled him into a hug. 

“I love you too- you know that right? This doesn’t change anything Jon I still love you.” Jon tried not to let a sob escape hearing it, but he was only partly successful. “We are going to fix this- I don’t know how but- the Doctor seems pretty competent, and-“ Jon typed something else on the phone. 

Can we just go to sleep?

“Of course.” Martin presses a kiss to the top of Jon’s head and they crawled under the covers. Martin was significantly less calm about everything then he was displaying but he knew if he freaked out now it would be very bad for Jon. He stayed awake long after Jon had fallen asleep. 

Jonah Magnus was Jon’s father. And he almost destroyed both Jon and the world. And for what? Power? A desire to serve some uncaring god? To prove himself to a race that ostensibly no longer existed? Martin lay his head carefully on Jon’s chest, letting the strange double rhythm quiet his mind. Jon was still here, the world didn’t end, they would figure it out somehow. 

***

The morning came and Jon felt- marginally better. His mind still felt like it was constructed out of fractured glass, but it felt like there was a little less pressure on it from outside forces. Aside from the TARDIS and the Doctor that was. He could feel the hum of the ships engines vibrating through his entire body, it was comforting, he could tell the ship was happy to be moving. 

The Doctor he could feel in the library. He didn’t think she had slept last night but she seemed more anxious then tired. When she noticed him testing the edges of the bond he was nearly bowled over by the mental equivalent of a hug. It felt nice, in a way he was quite certain he probably didn’t deserve after nearly ending the world, but at the gentle admonishment of his self deprecation he slowly let himself relax into it.

Martin groaned and turned over, never really much of a morning person. Jon started to say something to greet him but his mouth slammed shut, he could feel the final words they sat heavy on his tongue. At the click of his teeth Martin seemed to pull himself more into the waking world. 

“G’morning.” He mumbled sitting up and stretching. “You feeling any better?” Jon scrambled for the phone still sitting on the end table. 

Yes. It’s further away at least, though I can still feel them pressing on my mind.

“That sounds awful.” Martin said reading the phone over Jon’s shoulder. 

Our lives generally are.  Jon typed, adding a dry look. Martin couldn’t really come up with anything to dispute that- the last few days with the Doctor had been nice, but Jon wasn’t wrong in that- that was something of an outlier in how their lives tended to work. 

“Well, maybe, but, well, let’s get some tea.” It was important to get back to the basics sometimes, and the basics of comfort as far as Martin was concerned started with a cup of tea. Jon smiled and nodded, getting up and putting his ridiculous getup back on. 

“ Jon I have to ask, the shirt I understand, it looks incredibly comfortable but what on earth drew you to those pants??” Jon’s eyes lit up a bit, and he stuck his hand into the pocket, then his forearm- the lines of the pants didn’t change. “Are- are the pockets-“ Jon nodded excitedly. “Bigger on the inside?” Martin finished. Jon smiled. “Thats- ok. I understand the pants choice.” Martin’s mind was filled with the possibilities of picnics when you could carry everything you needed in you pants pockets. 

As Jon finished getting dressed he looked at the jacket with his adopted families sigil on it. He reached out to the TARDIS tentatively asking what the combined symbols of his adopted house and her house would be. He nodded in response. While Martin wandered to the on suite bathroom Jon wandered to a small shelf like structure on the wall, it was the Time Lord version of a 3D printer. He asked the TARDIS to replicate the jacket with the new sigil. If he weren’t so deeply intwined with the ship and if this particular TARDIS weren’t used to dealing with unconventional uses of her systems this wouldn’t have worked. But it did. 

Traditionally coats like this would be handmade- the Time Lords being what they were, were snobby about everything. But Jon felt it had more meaning this way, made by the ship keeping him safe. He folded the original coat back up and put the new one on. It was perfect. 

Martin didn’t comment on the coat when they walked to the kitchen, he had no way of knowing the significance, but that was ok, he was holding Jon’s hand and that was far more important. 

The Doctor had made her way to the kitchen after she felt Jon wake up, not to get started on breakfast so much since she really couldn’t be trusted in a kitchen. She once willingly ate fish with custard, there was no telling what horrendous thing she might concoct if left to her own devices, so she just pulled a bunch of fruit from the fridge instead. Including a very special fruit that she had grown herself in the TARDIS greenhouse, it looked like a mutant cross between a pumpkin and a rambutan. It was an incredibly difficult fruit to grow off its native soil of Gallifrey, but the Doctor had picked up a few tricks over the years. She had never met another Time Lord who didn’t adore the Rasian fruit. 

When Jon and Martin walked in though, all thoughts of breakfast fled her mind. Jon was wearing a coat. A very specific coat. At first she thought it was the one from the TARDIS wardrobe- left there by an old school friend centuries ago, but no- she could see the family sigil was altered, her own family name- her personal version of it, was stitched into it. 

“Oh.” She fought back the tears that threatened to form in her eyes. It had been centuries since she had seen her family sigil honoured like that, and she couldn’t recall ever seeing her children willingly wear her personal sigil before. She never thought she would again. It meant so much to see it, and she knew Jon understood the significance, as a child of adoption, the importance of family sigils was likely one of his earliest lessons. He was very loudly declaring to anyone who could read it that he accepted his adoption fully and completely. Any lingering fears she had of Jon rejecting it, for being forced on him before he was ready evaporated. She ran forward and swept him up in a hug, Martin too, for good measure. 

“Oh- um, good morning?” Martin stammered out caught off guard by the over exuberant Time Lord. 

Jon, feeling the mental hug in addition to the physical one was growing very overwhelmed. He had never in his life felt so utterly certain that he was cared for. Wrapped up between his boyfriend, and his- well he wasn’t sure what the Doctor was, but family certainly, and the ship that sung in his mind, Jon felt loved. 

The feeling didn’t really go away once the Doctor let go either. Jon could almost forget the eldritch terrors banging on the edges of his mind. His contented stupor turned to excitement though as he saw what was on the table. 

‘Is that Rasian fruit?!” He sent to the Doctor. 

“Oh! Yes, Rasian fruit! I grow it myself, it doesn’t like to grow off Gallifrey but I do my best!” She preened a little, she couldn’t really share her excitement over the periwinkle coloured fruit with most of her travel companions, given that it caused horrifying hallucinations and mild telepathic seizures in Humans. Jon excitedly broke off one of the thorny bits on the outside, sucking the juice from the tine. With a thoroughly contended expression. 

‘ It tastes just how I remember- this is incredible! Thank you!’ 

The wave of affection that hit Jon as he sent the though nearly made him space out enough not to notice Martin reaching out for a tine of his own. Jon quickly stopped Martin’s hand. 

“Oh, no- you shouldn’t eat that!” The Doctor cautioned. “Very bad for Humans.”

“Oh so only aliens with fancy titles get to eat the pincushion fruit- I see how it is.” Jon snorted at Martin’s attempt at sarcasm, he sounded like he had when he had mock scolded one of the local cows for turning around right when he was trying to take a picture. Jon handed Martin a grapefruit instead. Martin huffed in mock annoyance and Jon and the Doctor sat down. Martin joined them shortly after with three steaming mugs of tea. 

“So I think I may have a way to push the Entities away enough to get your voice back.” The Doctor started after breaking open the rasian pulling what looked suspiciously like licorice our and biting off one end. Jon looked directly at her and Martin immediately sat up straighter. “So I was in the library all last night trying to come up with a solution. And I did! Right so I can’t remember if these exist in your time yet or not- little animals that help people? Like providing support and such?” 

“Like a guide dog?” Martin asked. 

“Yes! Exactly, well there are certain animals that have been trained to help with psychic trauma, help with shielding and recovery for those who have suffered from psychic attacks.Honestly I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before.”

‘Like a psychic emotional support animal?’  Jon asked, somewhat skeptical. 

“Yes! Like that exactly, but less that and more psychic guard animal.” That- that actually sounded like a pretty good idea. Jon didn’t really like the idea of adding more things into his overstuffed mind, but an animal would probably be ok, and if it could push the Powers back even a little it was worth it. Jon looked at Martin to see his response- except Martin had turned to see Jon’s, and they both ended up blushing and looking away. 

“If Jon thinks so, that seems like a good idea.” Martin stammered out. He blushed again thinking about Jon with some kind of eight legged kitten or something, the image was too cute. 

Jon nodded in agreeance. He could see the benefit, and besides, he had missed having a pet, he hadn’t had a cat since the Admiral, and it would be nice to have the added unquestioning support only an animal could offer. 

“Perfect! I’ll put in a call to the organization that does the training, then we can pop ahead a year and you can pick one out. We just need to wake our guests in the sick bay.” While Jon didn’t miss the fact that the Doctor had said ‘our guests’ in a way that implied that him and Martin were residence rather then guests the warmth he felt from it was quickly eclipsed by the knowledge that they would need to explain what happened to Daisy and Basira. He grabbed another tine off the rasian fruit. At least he wouldn’t be explaining what happened alone, and at least Jon knew that the Doctor and Martin were in his side. Even if he didn’t understand it, at least he was truly starting to believe it. 

***

If Martin was understanding and calm when he awoke after his own impromptu psychic surgery and parasite removal, the same could not be said for Basira, who had shaken herself awake so violently she work Daisy. Seeing Daisy calm, and more herself then Basira had seen in at least a year, she relaxed a little, but she couldn’t trust it. It was too good to be true. She just had to wait for the other shoe to drop. 

It didn’t take long, since about 15 minutes after she had awoken, and Daisy had explained a few details of the situation (very intentionally leaving Jon’s age out of it, that was Jon’s business if he wanted her to know, and Daisy knew he really wouldn’t.) the Doctor, Martin and Jon walked in, Martin carrying a tea tray with two steaming mugs and a fruit bowl. 

“And how are you both feeling today?” The Doctor said fighting the urge to stick her tongue out at Basira, she was still mad at her for how she treated Jon. Daisy at least seemed to be on the right track as far as treating Jon was concerned, though the Doctor though it might take a while to really trust her, she did try to kill Jon after all. But some of the Doctors best friends tried to kill her before they really knew each other, so it was hard to hold that completely against her since she seemed to have moved past it. 

“Better.” Daisy answered first, gratefully taking the tea from Martin. Basira said nothing but watched them with suspicion, only cautiously sipping her tea after Daisy did. She didn’t feel the Eye, but she couldn’t quite trust it wasn’t a trick. She did want to though. 

“Good! So, we need to make a quick stop somewhere, off world, and I’d drop you off but it’s a really bad idea to go back to that specific time, so you’re coming with. If I ask you to stay in the TARDIS would you actually do it?”

“What!?” Basira nearly spilled her tea and she shifted quickly half standing at the words ‘go back.’ Implying they had already left. 

“Ok, so long story short, Jonah Magnus pulled a really dirty underhanded move, the world got a little unstable- “ She threw her fingers up in the air to quiet the immediate questions “But we fixed it!” She added hurriedly. “So we need to pick up something to help with the whole mess- so if I asked you to stay here would you?” Daisy sighed looking at Basira’s face. 

“Probably not. You had better tell us the whole story.” The Doctor frowned. I was worried about that. Jon shifted anxiously behind her. Martin took his hand. 

“So yesterday I got the mail with the box of statements you sent us-“ Martin began. 

“There’s no way those could have arrived already!” Basira cut in. 

“Well they did, one of the statements was a trap. Jonah Magnus was trying to use Jon to complete a ritual- not to bring the Eye through, but to bring all 14 through.”

“No-“ Basira breathed in horror. 

“It didn’t work!” The Doctor cut in quickly. “But it was closer then I would have liked.”

“What is wrong with you Jon?! Terrorizing innocent people with nightmares wasn’t enough for you?! You want the world too? Why can’t you just-“ 

“Nope! None of that.” The Doctor cut Basira off harshly fury lighting her eyes. “You don’t get to talk to Jon like that.” Basira opened her mouth to say something. “Nope- none of that. You can’t possibly understand what Jon has been through and you don’t get to criticize him. This is Not his fault. Any more then it’s the fault of any abuses victim. You are a police officer you should know that.” Basira closed her mouth. Fine so it wasn’t Jon’s fault he didn’t have the self control not to read every statement that came to him. Basira breathed in sharply. He did save Daisy though, and the longer she was awake the more sure she was that the Eye was really gone from her mind, and he had done that too. Perhaps she was being unfair. She still didn’t trust it, but if the world hadn’t really ended then, she supposed no harm done, she still wasn’t thrilled about being taken off Earth. It reminded her a bit too much of a statement she had read about an astronaut that got stuck with one of the Fairchilds experiments with the Vast. 

“Fine.” Basira said. 

“Jon are you alright” Daisy asked. Jon didn’t look great, at Basira’s words he had crumpled in on himself gripping at the sleeve of his odd coat with one hand and clutching at Martins hand with the other. Jon shrugged his shoulders. 

“He- he hasn’t spoken since-“ Martin looked at Jon to try and figure out how much he should say. “He doesn’t want to risk the last part of the Statement getting spoken by mistake.” Basira tried not to look as excited about that as she was. The idea of Jon not being able to speak meant that there was no chance of him trying to compel them. 

“Do you know sign language Jon?” Daisy asked.She had taken a few basics classes a few years back, one of the criminals she was Hunting was deaf, and she had wanted to be able to properly enjoy it when she caught him. She pushed aside any guilt, if she could use it to help now then it didn’t matter that it hadn’t been learnt for the right reasons. Jon made a gesture meaning, a little, Daisy nodded. 

“Ok. Are you alright Jon?” Jon seemed to think about it for a long moment before carefully signing out ‘not good getting better’ Daisy nodded again. “And we need to pick something up to help protect Jon from the Entities?” She speared a grape from the fruit bowl with one of her claws. The physical traits from the Hunt having remained, even as her mind returned to her. Daisy hadn’t asked but she suspected they were going to stay. 

“Yes. It should help enough for him to be able to speak again.” The Doctor answered. Basira huffed. 

“How dangerous is this thing you need to pick up?” Daisy asked. 

“Probably the safest planet we could go to!” The Doctor said cheer creeping into her voice. She hoped she wasn’t jinxing herself. 

“Right.” Daisy made a mental note to ask to read the statement in question later. “How long until we get there?” 

“We already are.” The Doctor answered, “We landed 8 minutes ago.” Daisy looked hard at the Doctor then at Basira. 

“How long will this pick up take?”

“Oh I wouldn’t say more then an hour- we called ahead.” Daisy hummed. 

“Ok, fine, Basira and I can stay here;” she turned to Basira to cut off any protest. “I need a shower, and so do you, neither of us is really in any shape to wander off onto an alien world.” Basira made a face but nodded. 

“Fine.” She agreed. The Doctor clapped her hands. 

“Great, feel free to go anywhere the doors aren’t locked- showers through to the right Wardrobe down the hall third left.” She turned to Jon and Martin. “Come on gang? Clan?” Daisy heard her continue it all down the hall as the three of them left her and Basira alone. 

“Do you trust them?” Basira asked, staring intently at Daisy. 

“You know, I think I do.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh! Also my friend @TheVioletSunflower wrote an AU of this fanfic- check it out-
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/23366365/chapters/55984780


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its a little short but I was so inspired by all of your comments I couldn't Not post something, I got so inspired I even drew a little fan art. I'm not the best at drawing but I did my best :)
> 
> Thank you all so much for your continued support your reviews and thoughts keep me sane in this crazy world, my city is getting completely shut down as of wednesday so :/ But on the positive side more time to work on this fic.

Chapter 20

Jon wanted to be excited, he was going to see an alien world, he should be excited; but all he could feel was dread. The Eye felt stronger now then it had since he first met the Doctor. This was a world untouched by the Powers and it stoped Jon short- maybe he would be safe on the planet, but would the planet be safe from him? Was he condemning an entire planet to the Dread Powers? For better or worse he was carrying them with him. All of them. He pushed the question towards the Doctor.

“No I don’t think that will a problem, the planet has the largest training facility of psychic service animals in the galaxy, they will be well protected from your hitchhikers.” She gently put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

“Sorry?” Martin asked.

“Oh, no, answering Jon.” The Doctor said with a smile.

“Oh.” Martin squeezed Jon’s hand. He sort of understood what was going on between the Doctor and Jon, he knew they could communicate telepathically at least, which was good, he definitely wasn’t jealous. Well maybe a little, but only because he missed being able to talk with Jon with out a phone.

“Are we ready to go?” Jon nodded and Martin did too. The Doctor bounded towards the door. “Your first alien world! Well, other then Earth, but that one doesn’t really count.” She bounced on her toes lightly as she opened the door- normally for the first alien world she let her companions go out first, really take it in, but considering the trauma her present company had endured she thought it best to lead the way. That reminded her- she closed the door and turned around. “Martin.”

“Oh, um yes?”

“The TARDIS has a translation circuit- she normally activates it when We go to a new world, it translates all languages into your native language. It’s a totally passive psychic link, but if you don’t want her to I can turn it off. Jon and I will still be able to hear what being said.” Martin furrowed his brow as he thought.

“It would probably be fine, but can you turn it off? I don’t know if I really want anything in my head like that.” The Doctor nodded.

“Of course, no problem- it will sound like I’m speaking complete gibberish- but I’ll translate if you have any questions.” Martin nodded. It wasn’t that the translation scared him, it was actually really exciting, and Martin was internally geeking out about it. It had been a test. He wanted to know if she would try and pressure him. He was relieved that she didn’t. For all that she had helped them, and all that Jon seemed to really trust her- and to a large degree Martin did too- it was important to keep checking, just in case.

The Doctor opened the door again, quickly walked out and waited for them. “Welcome to Rexicol 5!” She said as the two ventured out.

The planet itself was Earth type, though it had rings so it gave the sky a distinctly alien look. They had parked on a street corner next to a shiny glass building with a totally incomprehensible scrawl printed in a cheerful orange font. Jon read it as ‘Psychic Rehab Centre’

The Doctor bounded ahead like an over excited terrier- the last few days spent stressed in the TARDIS, had left her stir crazy, and she knew this was a safe planet for her boys to explore, and she was excited to share it with them.

There were other beings milling about in the lobby, some human, some not. Martin did his best not to stare, Jon was less bothered and Martin had to nudge him with his elbow when he caught him staring a bit too hard. Jon had the decency to blush and look away, it wasn’t even the Beholding that drove him to stare so much as plain old curiosity. The only aliens he had ever seen looked like him, so this was a new experience.

They hurried to catch up with the Doctor as she made a bee line for the front desk.

“Hello! I have an appointment, for my-“ She cut herself off trying to decide what phrasing would make Jon the most comfortable. ‘Youth under my guardianship?’ ‘Adolescent under my care?’ She glanced over to him standing with Martin beside her, and then at the family sigil on his lapel. “For me and my son. Name of Doctor.” She heard a sharp inhalation and she feared for a moment she had moved to quickly- had she ruined it? But then she felt a rush of warmth through the bond. She snuck quick glance, Jon was blushing furiously, but he caught her eye and gave her a shy smile. Which she returned with a smile of her own, full of warmth and affection.

Martin was beginning to regret his decision to turn down the option of translation.

“Perfect I’ll just get you too fill out these forms, and your consultant will be with you shortly.” The receptionist passed a tablet over the counter and the Doctor led them over to some chairs against the wall.

“Doctor- is it too late to ask you to turn on the translation circuits?” Martin asked. She looked up.

“Oh sure, they should work for you now.” Nothing felt any different- but when Martin looked at the wall he could read a poster detailing signs to watch for in children dealing with psychic trauma.

“Huh.”

“Jon, would you like to look this over see if I missed anything?” The form was the child’s version, and it was odd to read about himself in third person. The intake form was largely concerned with the nature of the psychic trauma occurred, and any triggers that the consultant should avoid mentioning- then there was a section for the type of support animal needed, with allergies and such. It all seemed correct. Jon tried not to feel offended that it was the child’s form. As long as no one decided to treat him like a child, he decided to ignore it. He passed the tablet back to the Doctor, who brought it up to the front.

“Nervous?” Martin asked. Jon nodded, he had always felt nervous before adopting a pet, wanting it to work out, worried about screwing it up somehow. Martin began rubbing circles on the back of his hand with his thumb. “I’m sure it will be fine.” Jon smiled at him. The Doctor joined them and immediately launched into the history of the place. Martin listened fascinated, but Jon tuned it out, it wasn’t that he wasn’t interested, but his mind kept brushing against all sorts of new and strange things, and it was very distracting. They didn’t feel dangerous either, just, present.

“Doctor and Jon?” The girl who called them up looked human, except for blue tone to her skin and what appeared to be feathers, rather then hair. “Hello, I’m Chignessa, I am going to walk you through the process today. I believe we spoke on the phone some months ago?” She directed this to the Doctor. Who shared a conspiratorial smile with Jon and Martin.

“Yes! Hello! I’m the Doctor- this is Jon.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “And this is Martin, Jon’s- Martin.” She couldn’t remember what humans called their paramours in the time she had snagged the two from, and she wasn’t sure where their relationship was in Gallifreyan terms.

“Hello Jon, Martin” Chignessa gave them a slight bow, which Martin awkwardly returned and Jon awkwardly did not. “If you’ll come with me, I can introduce you to the animals best suited for you.” They followed her down the hall into a large open space filled with all sorts of strange creatures, some familiar looking others utterly alien. She led them to a small fenced off section, containing five different creatures.

“So these five have been trained according to the specifications you gave.” She turned to Jon. “If you would like, you can go inside and see if you click with any of them- it’s ok if there isn’t a perfect fit, there are lots of support animals being trained everyday, we can work with you until we find the perfect fit.” Jon nodded. Cautiously eyeing the creatures inside the pen. One looked something like a dog, and two looked sort of like cats, if you had a very loose definition of a cat one was- well Jon thought it might have been a mini rhinoceros, if rhinos had six legs.

But it was the fifth one that caught his attention. It was a dark lilac, perhaps the size of a kitten if you stretched it out length wise a little. All hesitation he had to go inside evaporated. Jon took his coat off and passed it to Martin, he didn’t want to risk damaging it. Then he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

He knelt down beside the little purple creature. It was covering in something that wasn’t quite fur, but wasn’t quite feather either. It looked like a furry little dragon, complete with wings. Jon cautiously reached his hand out and the creature sniffed at him, before climbing onto his arm and purring. Jon carefully stood up cradling the dragon in his arms. He felt it caress his mind. It wasn’t like the TARDIS or the Doctor, it was simpler, no demands, just a small spark of warmth against his thoughts. He let her in.

All at once the lingering feeling of the 14 Powers quieted. He could still feel the Eye of course, but the final words of the Statement stopped threatening to spill out. He could feel the little dragon wandering around in his mind, like a guard dog around the edges, snapping at anything that pushed too close. Jon didn’t even notice the tears that had begun to stream down his face. He stared at her in wonder. She trilled, the sound starting out loud but echoing through his mind. Jon we this lips and swallowed hard.

“Hello.” He murmured softly. “I think your going to stay with me.” She trilled again and climbed up his arm to sit on his shoulder. She had wickedly sharp looking claws, but she expertly avoided nicking him, and she curled her long tail around he bicep for support, rather then digging in, like every cat Jon had ever owned.

He looked back up at the others, the doctor was beaming, and Martin looked thrilled. Which made sense Jon supposed, Martin was absolutely the type to get excited about any small furry animal. It didn’t even occur to him that Martin was far more excited to hear Jon’s voice then he was over the Dragon on Jon’s shoulder.

“Made your decision Jon?” Chignessa asked. He nodded.

“What do you think Martin?” He asked as he exited the pen.

“She looks like a beautiful purple winged ferret.” Martin said in delight. Jon snorted. The little dragon sneezed. Martin came closer and cooed at her. “Do you like the name Ferret then sweetheart?”

“We are Not calling her Ferret.” Jon said firmly, his voice was still a bit horse from disuse, but growing stronger.

“Why not?” Martin asked gently scratching her under the chin.

“It’s undignified. She’s a lady, nobility, like a duchess or something.”

“Jon that is the most basic thing you could possibly name her.” Martin said rolling his eyes. Falling into the gentle ribbing felt so natural, and Martin couldn’t keep the dopey smile off his face as they followed Chignessa back to the front desk. She was chatting with the Doctor, presumably care instructions for their little purple friend.

“Fine a Viscount, or a Marquis then.”

“Marquis du Ferret.” Martin said brightly. The dragon purred and Jon felt it reverberate in his mind. “See! She likes it.” Jon couldn’t really argue with that, he could tell she liked it. He tried to reason with her a little in his mind, but she seemed quite happy with the name. Jon sighed.

“Unfortunately you’re right, she does like it.” He reached up to stroke one of her feathery wings. “Marquis du Ferret it is.” Martin grabbed Jon’s free hand and smiled, seeing the smile on Jon’s face, and the weight that seemed to have lifted off his shoulders Martin could almost believe that things were going to be ok.

[Jon and the Marquis Du Ferret](https://nireidi.tumblr.com/post/614074103647928320/fanart-from-my-fic-biology-101-a-magnus)


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at the Beautiful Art @THISisGREAT made for this fic!!!!!!!! I am so overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and love i have gotten for this story. (I may have teared up a little seeing such beautiful art being made for something I wrote.)
> 
> Thank you all so much, I hope you enjoy the latest chapter!

Artwork by [THISisGREAT](https://archiveofourown.org/users/THISisGREAT/pseuds/THISisGREAT)

Chapter 21

Basira was not impressed at being left on the ship, but she could see the advantages in being able to explore without the alien supervising. She skipped taking a shower and didn’t bother going to explore the ‘wardrobe’ she had been directed too. Daisy seemed to trust the Doctor, and Jon- but Basira wanted to be sure, much as it pained her she feared if there was something wrong Daisy might not catch it- she hadn’t exactly been on top of her game the last few months. 

Most of the doors Basira tried were locked. She did manage to find a library, but predictably none of the books she could find were in English, or any other language she could read for that matter. She did find a very odd print out on one of the library tables- it sort of looked like it could be a news article of some sort- the circular glyphs presumably writing of some sort. The article had a picture of a group of people- all wearing matching outfits- decorating with glyphs similar to the ones Jon had on his coat earlier. 

Actually, the toddler one of the figures was holding had the same eyes as Jon, Basira took a picture of it on her phone and moved on, she only had an hour, and from what she had seen the ship was enormous. Basira tried not to think about Helen. She still wasn’t entirely convinced the Doctor  _wasn’t_ an avatar of the Spiral. Though the ship certainly didn’t feel anything like Helen did. Best not to focus on it, she had always found answers tended to come when you had the right clues and getting your mind stuck on one possibility made it harder to accept others if it turned out you were wrong. 

The next room that was unlocked was what Basira assumes was the kitchen. There were discarded mugs and the remains of fruit peels on the table, and Basira was, for a moment relieved. Before the coma Jon had always been leaving his tea in odd places, or starting to eat lunch, get distracted and then leave it on the communal table. It wasn’t a great habit, but it was a pretty Human one, and since his coma, since he stopped eating in the common area and there was no Martin to bring him tea, she hadn’t really seen any of the mess that had always reminded her he was Human after all. 

So despite now knowing for certain that Jon wasn’t Human, it was still a comfort to see. She didn’t recognize the periwinkle pumpkin sized fruit on the table though. She poked at it lightly, spongey. They had clearly eaten it though, which meant it was probably safe. 

Basira broke off a piece of the inside, it reminded her of liquorice. She hadn’t eaten any of the breakfast Martin had brought. It was far to easy to inject a fruit with a needle and leave a nasty surprise. She wasn’t sure what they may have left, but this seemed safer- clearly they had eaten it for breakfast, they were unlikely to drug their own food. She was allergic to grapefruit, or else she would have gone with something a bit more familiar. She cautiously took a bite. 

The taste was difficult to describe but it wasn’t a good taste. She swallowed and decided hunger was probably a better choice for now. If she watched Martin cook lunch then she could have something then. She checked her phone, there was only 15 minutes left of her promised hour- she must have spent more time in the library then she thought. She sighed and started to make her way back to the infirmary. She didn’t want to be away from Daisy for too long. 

As she walked though something didn’t feel quite right. She felt- off, there was a singing that she couldn’t quite hear- but; she didn’t know how she knew there was singing if she couldn’t hear it. 

When had she sat down? She couldn’t remember. Were the walls always so orange? That didn’t seem right. 

*** 

There wasn’t much paperwork to sign before they left the clinic- Jon got handed a few pamphlets detailing self care after psychic trauma, and the tips for ‘Bonding with your special new friend’ both of which were very obviously intended for children, but it was easier to just shove them in his pocket rather then dispute his age. 

They provided a little collar for the Marquis du Ferret, that cheerfully proclaimed ‘Service Animal’ She had quickly decided that his right shoulder was her rightful place and Jon saw no need to dispute it. By the time everything was signed and approved and they entered the TARDIS Jon felt more settled then he had- well, possibly ever. Even the low level anxiety that had permeated his mind for as long as he could remember, was gently soothed by the Marquis gentle purring in his mind. 

Which was why, on their way back to the infirmary, he was so taken off guard to find Basira sitting on the floor clutching her head. He heard the Doctor and Martin groan simultaneously, and he felt the Marquis hold on his mind sharpen protectively. 

“She’s having a psychic seizure!” The Doctor bit out. “Projecting into peoples minds by accident. Don’t touch-“ The warning came too late, Jon had grabbed Basira’s arm and he felt his mind go sideways to meet hers. 

The pain Martin and the Doctor were feeling abruptly stopped. And the Doctor looked at Jon and Basira in dismay. Jon had slumped to the floor beside Basira and the little purple dragon had curled protectively around Jon’s throat, it’s little eyes closed and she was puffed up to make herself look bigger as she protected Jon. 

Jon opened his eyes and immediately knew he had made a mistake. He was in Basira’s living room. He reached up and pulled the Marquis into his arms, nervously scratching her head like he would a cat. 

“Hello?” He called out cautiously. The Doctor had said psychic seizure, so he figured he must be in Basira’s mind scape. 

“Jon?” She didn’t sound angry at least. He turned, she was curled up on the couch, a blanket pulled protectively around her shoulders, as though that could keep her mind safe. “What’s happening?” She sounded scared. Having your mind forcefully ejected from your body could do that- he knew that particular panic intimately.

“You’re having a seizure.” That didn’t seem to help the panic in her eyes. “It’s- it’s ok, your going to be fine!” He quickly tried to reassure. There was only one thing he could think of that would have caused this, breakfast. He mentally berated himself for neglecting to properly put away breakfast. The Marquis gently nipped at his fingers. He got the distinct impression she didn’t approve of his self criticism. “It’s- the fruit- in the kitchen- how much did you eat?”

“What fruit? I- oh. I, only had one bite- clearly someone had eaten it! I-“ 

“You assumed it was safer then whatever we brought you for breakfast.” Jon said with a sigh. Basira nodded. “It’s, not safe for- well.” He cleared his throat. He couldn’t bring himself to say the word Humans in a way that excluded himself. Not around her. 

“It shouldn’t last too long if you only had one bite.” He sat down in an arm chair as far from Basira as possible. He could feel the Doctor, but she was further away, he was pretty firmly stuck in Basira’s mind, and he got the impression, though what little he could hear from the Doctor, that pulling him out in the middle of this would likely just hurt them both. 

Best thing to do was to wait till it worked it’s way out of her system. 

“This place isn’t real is it?” She asked. 

“No, we- we’re in your mind.” He hadn’t wanted to say that, but it was difficult to lie in a telepathic conversation. And he had never been good at lying anyway. “I- I saw you on the floor and I tried to help, but when I touched you I got sucked in. The- the fruit you ate- the rasian fruit- it causes psychic seizures, your mind sort of becomes unstuck from your body.”

“How do I fix it?” She said immediately. 

“You can’t, I’m afraid we just have to wait. It- you’ll be ok.” He tried to offer. Basira sighed and rubbed her hands across her face. 

“I am so tired of this bullshit.” She said finally. Jon let out a startled laugh. “Are you going to gloat now?” She asked looking up. Jon furrowed his brows in confusion. 

“What?”

“I berate you for your self control with the statements then I go and eat poison alien fruit- because I’m too paranoid to eat what was brought to me.” 

“Basira-“ He began. 

“Is this what it’s like for you?” She asked. “The psychic nonsense- when you show up in people’s nightmares- is it like this?” Jon didn’t say anything, he idly played with the Marquis tail. Letting it wrap around his fingers. It soon became clear however that Basira was expecting an answer, he let out a breath. 

“Not exactly. Maybe- it was similar in the coma, no control, no way to stop it. The nightmares are different. I still don’t have control there, but I don’t feel it, it’s just like any dream. Things makes sense in a different way.” That was what made the entire situation more terrifying. 

“I really want to be mad at you for this.” Basira said, and Jon let out a bitter laugh. 

“I suppose I really should have put away-“

“No.” Basira cut him off. “I want to be mad at you because you’re the easiest one to be mad at. But you don’t really have any more control then the rest of us.” Jon stared at his lap, and the Marquis stared back at him, purring gently. 

“No. I- I don’t know what Daisy told you about well, me- but, well, no. Until the Doctor came, I don’t think I had any control at all.” Basira nodded. Here in this place that wasn’t a place, she could feel the truth of the words. She supposed it was because they were in her head. 

“I’m not going to apologize. And I’m not going to say thank you. But, I haven’t been fair to you.” Jon looked up in surprise. 

“I- I wouldn’t say you’ve been unfair, I, after the coma I’ve been, I was-“ Jon sighed and looked back down. “You shouldn’t feel guilty for treating me like I’m a monster.” The Marquis nipped at his fingers- perhaps a little more firmly then necessary.  “Ouch!” He jerked in surprise. 

“Wait that things real!???” Basira said in confusion. “I thought it was another hallucination! Does that say Service Animal?” She asked incredulously. 

“Oh, um yes- this is the Marquis du Ferret.” He held her up a little so Basira could see her better. 

“She can’t be a well trained service animal if she’s biting you.”

“Oh, well, no- she just.” Jon sighed and looked down again. “She doesn’t really like it when I call myself names. I suppose that’s what I get for having a service animal trained for children.” Jon said with a helpless laugh, giving the Marquis a scratch under her chin. 

“Why would she be trained for children?” Basira asked, moving slightly closer in the couch despite herself. The little purple creature in Jon’s lap was fascinating. 

“Because- oh, did, did Daisy not tell you then?” Now Jon looked afraid again and the little creature puffed herself up and glared at Basira. 

“Tell me what Jon.” It wasn’t a question, but it lack the usual bite a lot of Basira’s demands held. Jon took a deep breath. 

“I- I suppose I should ask what you know, and then I can fill in the gaps?” The question held no trace of compulsion, that so often tinged Jon’s questions back at the institute, and Basira relaxed just a tiny bit more. 

“I know you’re an alien, and that Elias- Magnus took you when you were young and had you raised on Earth- some kind of shape shifting technology was involved? And some of the freaky mind stuff you do isn’t because of the Eye.” Jon nodded, he should have assumed Daisy would only tell the bare minimum. He appreciated it, though it left him now in the awkward situation of explaining things to Basira himself. 

“Yes, that’s- Um- that’s true.” He took a deep breath. “The, um, Time Lords, are, a psychic people, which means they-“ He swallowed hard. “We, are more vulnerable to psychic attack- things like the Eye, especially when young, a young Time Lord has no natural psychic defences and relies on parents and family.” He was starting to slip into a lecturers rhythm, it made it a little easier to talk. He couldn’t look at her though, he kept his eyes firmly on the Marquis. 

“The thing is, Time Lords don’t actually age the same way as- as, well. So he used something called a Chameleon Arch- it changes the body, and stores the memories and mind in an object- making me fully Human. Which meant that I aged at a rate that was-“ Jon lips twisted into a sarcastic smile. “Beneficial to his plans- while remaining fully ignorant of them. It- it left my mind very vulnerable to psychic attack.”

“Because you didn’t know how to defend yourself or-“

“Well no, because I still have no natural psychic defences, Time Lords life a long time, and well,” Time to bite the bullet. He took a deep breath. “I technically have another hundred and sixty or so years left of my childhood.” It was complete silence. Jon was too afraid to look up so he just stared at the Marquis. 

“You want to run that by me again?” Basira said. Jon flinched a little- and yeah, now that she was looking for it- it made sense, it made too much sense. Her mind went back to seminars on recognizing a child abuse victim and when to call in the child protective services. 

Withdrawn, not really interacting appropriately with peers, depression, low self confidence, the fact that Jon was so skinny, even before the whole mess with the Eye really got started. Even his apparent lack of care for his own well being, throwing himself into the buried for Daisy- who had threatened to kill him- clear signs of suicidal ideation from comments about his own death as ‘one less monster.’ Heck even running off to help her, someone he knew didn’t like him- with zero thoughts to the consequences. 

She didn’t really want to believe it- but she knew Jon was telling the truth- she could practically feel the wave of shame rolling off him- for- what? Was he ashamed of being young and taken advantage of? Had she made him feel like that? Jon opened his mouth to try again but she cut him off. 

“No, never mind- I, thats really fucked up Jon.” She said. Jon laughed bitterly. 

“I believe that is the standard for our lives yes.” Which- yes, sarcasm as a coping method, that was another hallmark of neglect. 

“So what’s the equivalent? You’re 33 right? How old are you by your standards if you aren’t technically an adult until-“ she did some mental math, “until around 200?” 

“It’s- um, it’s complicated?” He began, then looked panicked at not being able to give a proper answer and Basira flinched a little. “It’s- the, the um Chameleon Arch, meant I am for all intents and purposes an adult human male- so in terms of mental development- there isn’t really an equivalent? Time Lords develop drastically differently from, from humanity, and there is no one to one comparison. But I would be considered, young. Very young.” He swallowed hard. And even though Basira couldn’t see his eyes, she knew if she could the only thing she would see was fear, fear of her. Which, wasn’t great. 

“Then I am going to take back what I said.” She said firmly. And Jon looked up at her now, the fear clearly held in his eyes. “Jon, I’m sorry.”

“What?” It came out half strangled and full of disbelief. 

“I figured your childhood wasn’t particularly love filled- I heard your statement on Mr. Spider. But I thought, you are a grown man you should be able to handle things. But you aren’t. And I was wrong. You don’t deserve what Elias, Magnus did to you.” 

“Oh.” He said quietly. Basira watched the odd little creature climb up Jon’s shirt and coil protectively around his neck. 

“So let’s try this again. You say the Doctor can help us take the bastard down, I’m on board.”

“There’s, there’s something else you should know.” It sounded as though he had to force the words out, like saying them physically pained him, and Basira braced. “I- Jonah Magnus didn’t just kidnap me. I was, well, um, Time Lords can reproduce with something called a Loom, it takes DNA directly and grows it into a child. Magnus is, well he used-“ Jon trailed off. He couldn’t say it. 

“He’s your father.” Jon nodded miserably. 

“That doesn’t change anything. What he did is still unforgivable. I’m on your side here Jon.” It may have taken her a while to get there, and she still didn’t really trust anyone on the ship, but she was going to try- she was going to choose to trust these people, choose to trust Jon. It occurred to her that the picture she saw in the library with the little kid with Jon’s eyes, was probably actually Jon. He had the same expression on his face now. Like a disbelief at kindness. 

“Oh.” His utter shock at not being rejected hurt, but Basira knew she deserved that. She would work on it. 

“So how long are we going to be stuck here?” She asked. 

“I- I’m afraid I don’t really know, it won’t be more then a few hours at most I imagine.” Basira nodded. Then she stood up and went to the cupboard beside her tv. If they were in her mind, then she figured she had control over the environment. She pulled out a cardboard box and walked over to set it on the coffee table in front of Jon. 

“Checkers?” He said incredulously. 

“I’m sure you’re more of a chess player but this is what I have. Red or black.” He blinked at her for a moment. 

“R-red.” Basira nodded, opening the box and laying out the board. 

***

Martin was panicking a little. The Doctor said Jon would be ok, and that it would wear off soon, but Basira and Jon didn’t really get along. It didn’t help that the Doctor was also clearly anxious. It didn’t take long for Martin to find himself in the kitchen making tea. The Doctor had deemed it best not to move Jon and Basira, so they stayed where they were- the Doctor watching them while Martin, made tea. He didn’t expect to see Daisy- he had sort of forgotten about her if he was honest. He silently added another cup to his tea tray. 

“Hello Martin, where is everyone?” Daisy still didn’t really like to be left alone, and when she couldn’t find Basira, she had begun to feel antsy, she hadn’t wanted to, but she ended up using some of her enhanced senses, to try and track her down. It gave her a small thrill that she studiously ignored, she wasn’t a Hunter. Maybe if she kept telling herself that she would believe it. 

“Daisy, hi- it’s they-” Martin sighed. “The Doctor thinks that Basira ate some of that-“ Martin pointed around the breakfast mess. “It, well it’s not really meant for, non Time Lords.”

“Is she ok?” Daisy asked sharply.

“Oh, um yes, she, the Doctor says she’ll be fine- it causes hallucinations and something called a psychic seizure? She somehow managed to suck Jon into her mind, they um, they are stuck there until it passes. The Doctor didn’t think it would last too long though.” Martin tried to sound hopeful but he knew it probably fell flat. 

“Oh, good. If her and Jon are stuck together maybe they can finally talk.” That- was not the take away Martin would have expected from Daisy, but he supposed he didn’t really know her all that well. The kettle whistled. 

“Need help carrying all that tea?” Daisy asked. Martin passed her the tray- she was careful to avoid touching him, her claws digging slight indents to the tray, even with a gentle touch. 

“Thanks.” They walked back to the hall where Jon and Basira were in a companionable silence. 

The Doctor had taken up pacing when they arrived, and Martin was pretty sure she took the proffered mug of tea, more to gesture with then actually drink. It was Daisy who broke the awkward quiet. 

“What is that thing?” 

“Oh, that’s Ferret.” Martin said. “She’s supposed to help Jon with the whole psychic stuff.” He added lamely. 

“Huh. Good name.” 

“Jon calls her the Marquis du Ferret- but between you and me, I think she likes Ferret better.” Daisy nodded. 

“A lady of taste.” She added. Martin sat down on the floor- across from Jon, far enough that he wouldn’t be tempted to touch and rush getting sucked in, but close enough that he could still clearly see Jon. He didn’t appear to be in distress- so that was good. 

“Well the good news is Jon doesn’t seem to be upset anymore, which I think is a good thing, it’s hard to feel him right now since he isn’t in his own head, but I think he’s ok.” The Doctor said after finally drinking some of her tea. 

“So Doctor, that statement Jon read. I want to see it.” The Doctor shares a look with Martin. And he nodded, Martin knew Jon would be ok with Daisy reading it. It would be best for her to be on the same page anyway. The Doctor pulled the crumpled paper from her pocket, and Daisy quickly skimmed through it- her hatred of Jonah Magnus growing with every word. 

“So how did you stop Jon from finishing it?” She asked. 

“It’s- well, so it’s like a fence right?  Right now, all Jon has is posts of the fence, it’s really easy for something to slip though, he has a bond with the ship, which adds some barbed wire to the fence, but there still some pretty big gaps, normally you’d have a whole family each adding defenses to a young mind, I added my defense to Jon’s.”

“So that thing you were talking about before- with- adoption, that’s, you Time Lord adopted him right?” Martin asked. It was beginning to fully click. 

“Yes, for all intents and purposes I adopted Jon.” Martin nodded. It wasn’t great that this had all happened so quickly and Jon hadn’t really had a choice, but Jon hadn’t seemed upset about it- Martin resolved to talk to Jon about it when he woke up though, Jon had a habit of hiding things when he was emotionally vulnerable. 

“More important question.” Daisy said; the particulars of Time Lord adoption and psychic bonds, wasn’t really where her specialties lay. “How do we kill Jonah Magnus?” The Doctor shook her head. 

“I don’t know. His connection to the Eye has changed him in some way, it’s hard enough to kill a Time Lord who isn’t bound to an eldritch fear monster that feeds him power. I have a few ideas, of course, but outside of this ship, even without your connections to the Eye it’s likely he can still use you to See through. What we need is someone without eyes, to make the first move, he wouldn’t be able to see it coming.”

Martin and Daisy shared a look. 

“We might know someone.” Daisy said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may slow down a little with how often I post since I have an exam next week- on the other hand, my procrastination for studying may increase my rate of posting- who's to say?


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well instead of revising for my exam after class finished I wrote this, So enjoy! 
> 
> No idea how I did with Georgie and Melanie, hopefully I got their characters alright. Your comments are as always the brightest part of my day (especially since my city got hit with a snow storm last night) 
> 
> Hit me up on Tumblr if you want to chat @Nireidi

Chapter 22

“No absolutely not! We can’t get them involved!” Jon was pacing, they had all gathered in the library after he and Basira had finally woken up- and then promptly gone to bed. Martin had tea laid out on the table and had somehow found the time to make muffins. 

“Why not Jon- Melanie wants to kill Elias, sorry Magnus as much as anyone!” Basira countered. The Marquis flapped her wings from her position on Jon’s shoulder, clearly sharing her owners agitation. 

“Why not- why not?? Because she stabbed her own eyes out to get away from this!”

“What aren’t you saying Jon?” Daisy this time, she was eating something the Doctor claimed was bacon but smelt closer to lilac. She had limited ability to eat things like muffins these days- the side effects left over from the Hunt leaving her an obligate carnivore. 

“I- when Martin went missing you-“ Jon stopped pacing and sat down. Putting his face in his hands. Martin tensed. Jon had three levels of anxious, there was the mild fidgeting, the pacing, and the forced stillness, if Jon was overly still it was always a bad sign. 

“You and Basira were gone, Martin was missing, I needed help I needed, someone. I don’t know. I tried to talk to Melanie and she- well Georgie wouldn’t even let me in the door and Melanie she- she was doing better she doesn’t deserve to be dragged into this again. It’s not- and I doubt Georgie would let me get within 2 metres of the door to ask.” He wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. He felt the Doctor’s mental hug wrap around his mind, and his shoulders relaxed some. The Marquis began purring and rubbing up against his cheek. He took a deep breath to centre himself. He wasn’t alone anymore. People had his back. He looked up, Martins hand found his, and when he began to meet the eyes of those around him, it wasn’t anger he saw there. It was support. However, there’s is a single unifying factor in all group projects and this one was no different. 

“Ok, so let’s go over it then- we need someone without eyes to-“ 

“We all heard the plan Martin, I guess one of us could sacrifice our own eyes to-“ 

“There’s no point in-“

“STOP!” It was Basira who finally spoke up. “Look this may be the only chance we have to pull this off. We need Melanie and there’s no point in arguing without at least asking her.”

“Well you probably have the best shot at convincing her Basira” Martin said, beginning to rub circles on the back of Jon’s hand with his thumb. “Not to mention, with all of us outside of Magnus’s sight there’s a good chance he may make a move on them as leverage- if they want no part in it it’s still better to have them here safe.”

“You have a good point but, I- I still think it’s important to give her a chance to say no.” Jon said. 

“We have to assume that with his ritual attempt failed, and Martin and Jon off the radar- not to mention Basira and I, he’s likely to be on high alert.” Daisy chimed in.

“And Melanie may be safe from being seen through but Georgie isn’t- Magnus could still use her, and we can’t risk him knowing.” Martin added. 

“So what do you suggest then?” Asked Basira, an appreciation for criminals who successfully planned heists quickly growing. 

“Alien abduction?” Jon said sarcastically. The table turned to look at him. “What I was joking!” The self consciousness clearly etched across his face as he attempted to defend himself. 

“No-that, that might actually work.” Daisy said. 

“Right!” The Doctor clapped her hands together. “Who has their phone numbers then?” The table collectively stared at her. “To call them and give them a warning?” The doctor tried to clarify- unsure where she lost them. 

“Didn’t you say we were in a time vortex or something? You know, in space?? Away from cell towers? Because materializing on Earth put Jon at risk?” Basira wanted to be very certain that she hadn’t left anything out. Obviously she had thought about calling them first, but they were in space! 

“Yep! Give me your phone.” The Doctor said cheerfully. Basira tensed, about to refuse; but she looked at Jon and remembered her promise to herself to try and trust. She slowly slid her phone across the table to the cheerful blonde woman. The Doctor took it and waved a weird cylinder at it for a minute and then slid it back to Basira. “There you go- you should have a signal in eight galaxies plus underground!” 

“Thanks.” Basira said and scrolled through her phone for Melanie’s cell number. No point in texting first, and it was best to contact Melanie directly, limit the chances of Georgie convincing her not to listen. 

“Wait- before you call her we need to get to the control room, once her phone signal connects I can use it to track her location and materialize the TARDIS directly on top of them. Which should cut them off of Jonah Magnus’s sight completely.” Basira nodded and they all made their way to the control room. Various suggestions on what she could say to try and convince Melanie. 

The phone only rang twice before she heard Melanie’s worried voice. 

“Basira?” 

“Melanie, hi. I have a proposition for you.”

“If it’s about the Institute I got out for a reason Basira, I’m done.” 

“I know. Do you want to blow it up?” There was a long moment of silence and Basira held her breath. 

“I’m listening.”

“Is Georgie there? It’s possible Mag- Elias might suspect we could contact you and he may be spying through her eyes.” There was another long moment of silence then. “So that’s a yes then?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, I need you to listen to me, then if you want in, I need you to say ‘no!’ loudly and pretend to hang up the phone. We have a way to cut you off from his sight, but I’ll need you to get Georgie and stand together in your living room. If you understand say they Admiral is fine.”

“The Admiral is fine.”

“Ok we have a plan, but even if you don’t want in, there’s a decent chance Elias knows we are planning to make a move, so he may come after you anyway as leverage” Melanie made an angry noise, and Basira could hear Georgie in the background tell Melanie to hang up the phone. 

“No!” Melanie said angrily into the phone and then there was the sound of rustling fabric as she presumably put it in her pocket. 

“Ok now!” Basira said to the Doctor and the Doctor nodded at Jon to flip the final switch as she ran around madly making small adjustments here and there. The engines groaned and Basira watched as Jon and the Doctor (and the little purple creature on Jon’s shoulder) danced around each other- seemingly perfectly in sync.

While Basira had been on the phone the Doctor had been giving Jon a crash course in TARDIS flight 101, which mostly amounted to, focus on what the TARDIS tells you and when I say flip a lever do it. He supposed the lessons might be more comprehensive with time. Then again, with how the Doctor seemed to fly, perhaps not. 

Working in sync with the ship, his, well the Doctor- with the Marquis on his shoulder providing grounding, Jon felt like he could really truly breathe for the first time in years. It felt so natural, and not, he realized now, the false and hollow natural it had felt when he used his Beholding powers. That was a pale imitation that only felt right because he had never experienced this. Beside the door, with each whirr of the engine, two ghostly figures began to gain clarity. 

“Stay still!”Basira shouted to Georgie who, as the only one who could see what was going on was understandably freaked out. The engines finally stabilized and the two appeared solid. 

“What the Hell???” Georgie shouted. 

“What’s happening?” Melanie asked. She put the phone back to her ear. “Basira?” She heard herself echo from somewhere ahead and froze. 

“What is happening is a great question!” Georgie said her voice a little calmer, but it kept a razor edge of anger. 

“Hi Melanie, Georgie-“ Basira began. 

“You’ve been abducted by aliens.” Daisy cut in pointing to Jon and the Doctor- the Doctor gave a little bow and Jon waved awkwardly. 

“Can someone please tell me what is happening!” Melanie said a sharp edge of anger in her voice. 

“We are in some kind of control room- I think we got teleported or something?” Georgie said to her. “More supernatural bullshit.” She added. 

“Other way around, I teleported the ship around you, hello! I’m the Doctor. No supernatural involved I promise- just a good old fashion alien abduction- ohh I’ve never done one of these before!” She turned to Jon. “Look at us doing our first alien abduction together!” Jon slapped his hand over his face. 

“Jon.” Georgie said her voice flat. “Would you like to explain what’s going on.” 

“Not really?” He squeaked out. 

“Let’s, uh, why don’t we move this into the library, I’ll bring tea-“ Martin tried. 

“This is so not the time for-“ Georgie started

“Let’s hear them out.” Melanie cut in putting a hand on Georgies arm, and shifting her cane in her other hand. 

“Babe, we are literally standing in an alien space ship right now!” Georgie whispered.

“And I’m mad that I can’t see it- Basira said we may be in danger, that with them off the grid Elias may try and take us to use against them. We should hear them out.” Georgie let out a frustrated huff. 

“Fine. Lead the way.” She said. 

A deeply awkward walk to the Library later, they were all situated around the table with steaming mugs of tea, that no one seemed inclined to touch. Georgie had taken up glaring at Jon, she didn’t know what exactly was happening, but she was 100% certain that he was directly involved in it. 

“Right so- um, there’s a lot to catch you up on, so-“ Martin clutched at his mug of tea like a lifeline. “So- if anyone wants to jump in to start?” He looked around the table to silence. 

“Lets start with that thing on Jon’s shoulder.” Georgie said, then turning to Melanie. “It’s about the size of a cat, purple and looks kind of like a dragon, but more like a ferret. At the sound of her name the Marquis straightened from her lazy lounge on Jon’s shoulder and trilled. Melanie flinched at the sound. 

“Her- um, her name is Marquis.” Jon said, he got nipped in the ear, he pushed at her face gently in annoyance. “Fine, Marquis du Ferret” he corrected. Georgie laughed despite herself. 

“You do know that Marquis is the male form of the title right?” 

Jon mumbled something looking down. 

“What?” 

“I didn’t want the admiral to outrank her, and by the time I remembered the correct form should be Marquise, I was just hoping no one would notice.” He mumbled a little louder. Everyone laughed at that. “It doesn’t really matter I think she prefers Ferret anyway.” Jon gave a long suffering sigh and Ferret purred snuggling into his neck. Georgie let some of the tension out of her shoulders. It was hard to feel like they had been pulled into danger when Jon looked this relaxed. She hadn’t seen him so relaxed in years- since before the institute. He flinched whenever she looked at him, but at least some of the haunted look he had worn since he first hid out from the police in her apartment was gone. He looked like he had hope. 

“Alright.” Melanie said, “Does someone want to explain what exactly is going on, and how you plan to blow up the institute without killing yourselves? Last I heard non of you were particularly eager to take my route, so what changed?” An uncomfortable silence fell. Jon sighed. 

“It started after I left your apartment,” Jon began, filling them in to begin with the details of the Panopticon. When he finally got to the part of discovering his second heart; something which neither Daisy nor Basira had been aware of previously- and which both resolved to ask about further once Jon finished, Jon floundered. 

“Well it turns out, that um, that a lot of the things I could do, with the compelling at least, aren’t actually powers of the Beholding?” He stammered out. “I um, well, I’m sort of, not Human?” 

“Yeah, we know.” Melanie said. “How is that news?”

“Oh well, no, bad way to say it I supposed I um.”

“What he trying to say” Daisy cut in. “Is that he’s an alien, like outer space, ET phone home alien.” Melanie started to laugh. Georgie blinked. 

“Oh man! I owe Tim ten quid in the afterlife!” Melanie cackled. Everyone turned to stare at her. 

“What?” Jon said confused. 

“We were taking bets, on why Jon was- well like Jon- with the stiff upper lip and the weird eldritch powers, I bet he was an escaped government robot-Tim bet Jon was a Vulcan in disguise.”

No one quite knew what to say. Jon pursed his lips his face taking on the look of a disgruntled fish. “Oh! Georgie is he making that face that makes him look like a disgruntled fish?” 

“Yes.” Jon pursed his lips harder as everyone slowly began to chuckle but eventually he joined in, the tension in the room finally broken. “Alright alien boy, what happened next?”


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s a short one, the exam I’m studying for is taking up all of my mental bandwidth, hopefully when it’s over on Thursday I’ll be back to more frequent updates. 
> 
> Your comments are keeping me sane as I try to jam 50 pages of human anatomy into my brain.

Chapter 23

Jon had finished mostly explaining things, having skimmed over the issue of his age much to the amusement of those who already knew. He wasn’t entirely sure he had gotten away with it, but neither Georgie nor Melanie had called him on it yet, so he was counting it as a tentative victory. He had spent enough years lying that he was older then he actually was that being, technically speaking a child, was something he was completely certain Georgie would never let him live down. Assuming she forgave him enough to tease him about it that was. 

“Right- so all that is great and all- congratulations on your life being the plot to a B rated scifi Jon- but Basira said you had a plan to blow up the institute.” Melanie, always was a very goal oriented individual Jon thought to himself.

“Oh- yes, there’s where I come in!” The Doctor said cheerfully. “So, Jonah Magnus, can only see out of human eyes because of the whole telepathy thing- and thanks to the eldritch fear parasite he’s hooked himself into, there’s not a lot we can do to combat that, unless the person in question wasn’t seeing what he thought they were. The thing is, in a few million years, robotic eye replacements become quite common- and what’s more augmented reality mods allow the user of the eyes to overlay more interesting scenery. We could sneak you into the tunnels under the institute, and overlay a different visual template- and even if he took a peek at what you were doing down there, all he would see would be what we want him to.”

“You want to give me robot eyes?” Melanie asked. 

“Yes.” The Doctor confirmed. 

“Cool.”

***

With everyone consenting to be hooked into the TARDIS translation circuit and the ship safely landed, the seven of them stepped out onto an alien world. The clinic was strict on only allowing two people in at a time which meant that the Doctor and Melanie would be going alone. Georgie was not impressed. It was however hard to argue with how excited Melanie was, so she very reluctantly agreed to the plan. 

“Right, so we came at a great time, the city of New Newfoundland is preparing for their annual flower festival, people from all over the Galaxy come to compete.” The Doctor was saying as they all walked towards the clinic. As they reached the doors she turned to Jon. 

“So, the city is going to be quite busy, so stay together, maybe check out one of the Botanical Gardens?” She mumbled something that sounded like ‘that should be safe enough.’ 

“The population here is mostly Human but there will be a lot of tourists around so watch out for pickpockets, this-“ she held out a thin wallet that Jon immediately recognized. “Is psychic paper, if you need an ID, just focus on what you want it to show and it will.” She flipped it open and showed him, the blank paper turning into an ID that said health and safety on it. “Be careful though, it can be a bit tricky- it plays into the perceptions of the person your showing it too- if they expect it to say something it probably will. This-“ She handed him a circular flat disc. “Should be more then enough credits to buy whatever you’d like, just let the cashiers scan it.” She reached out to squeeze Jon’s shoulder the one without Ferret on it, and he could tell what she really wanted to do was hug him. He could feel the gentle hug echoing in his mind, and he smiled at her, returning it tentatively. She beamed. 

“Have fun, be safe, meet me back here in two hours.” She said and Jon nodded, the Doctor turned to walk over to where Melanie and Georgie were speaking, and take Melanie’s arm to guide her into the building. 

“So- that card, did the Doctor just technically give you your allowance?” Daisy asked silently appearing at Jon’s side. He could feel his face turning red. 

“I don’t know what your talking about.” He tried to summon the haughty tone that used to come so easily to him before the Archives, but from the way Daisy was smiling, and Martin and Basira were holding back laughter, he didn’t think he succeeded. 

“We are on an alien planet, surely there are more interesting things then making fun of me.” He thought that time might have sounded more like whining then reprimand and gave up as the other three burst into full on giggles and began to wander down the street. 

Georgie caught up with them seconds later, though Jon wasn’t sure if the laughter put her at ease or made her more tense. He knew she didn’t want to be away from Melanie and that she certainly didn’t trust him or the Doctor, but she was trying, and he had to appreciate that. 

Surprisingly enough, it was Daisy and Martin who mostly kept the conversation going, which was odd, since Jon was pretty sure they had never gotten on well at the institute. For Martin’s part, he had decided that he rather liked Daisy, now that she wasn’t trying to kill Jon, that was. Basira would chime in eventually, still not totally relaxed, but getting there. She found it easier to breathe here on this alien world, as far from the problems of the entities as it was probably possible to be. 

Jon tried to join in the conversation on occasion, but he had never really done well in group settings and was content to listen- the Marquis occasionally trilling and moving from shoulder to shoulder to get a better look around, fluffing her wings in the gentle breeze. 

Eventually, they came to a building labeled ‘Botanical Gardens’ and decided that it was probably time to get out of the sun, since the day was rapidly growing hotter and the building advertised that it specialized in plants from cooler climates. 

Jon paid the admission price for them all, and was pleased that the clerk, hardly gave the Marquis a second glance. Though Jon supposed he shouldn’t be surprised, as the clerk had had some sort of tentacles coming out of their face and had spoken through a strange orb. 

The gardens were, all told, a bit of a disappointment, but Jon was ok with that, disappointments usually meant safe. Of course that was when the Marquis tensed up. He could feel her stress. Something was wrong. Jon stopped walking. 

“Something isn’t right.” He said. Daisy made eye contact. 

“I thought it was just me, something here smells, wrong- I can’t explain it just, off.” Jon nodded. 

“The Marquis thinks so too. There’s-“ He spotted a door labeled staff only. The Marquis coiled tighter as he looked at it. “There. It’s something in there.” Jon began walking to the door. 

“Jon what are you doing? We can’t just- let’s just leave.” Martin said, gently grabbing Jon’s hand to stop him from walking towards the door. It didn’t matter that Jon stopped though, Daisy was on the Hunt now, there was something behind that door that was bad and she needed to know about it. Jon ended up just dragging a reluctant Martin along. 

“Just a quick look, just to see what has the Marquis so on edge.” He reassured. And since Daisy had already slipped through the door the other two had little choice but to agree as Jon quickly followed suit. 

Basira quickly made her way to join Daisy, the room was far larger then she would have expected. More of a warehouse. And it was stacked full of crates of flowers. In the centre of the room there was a table, filled with papers and shipping manuals. Basira made quick work of them, skimming through. 

“This place is wrong, something about these flowers is-“ Daisy growled frustrated at being unable to explain it. Suddenly the Marquis ears twitched to the door. 

“Someone’s coming! Hide!” Jon whispered furiously. Pulling Georgie and Martin behind one of the crates as Basira and Daisy took cover behind a fork lift and shelf respectively. 

The door burst open just as they reached cover and an enormous man shouldered his way in. He had to be at least two and a half metres tall, and though he was human shaped, it was very obvious his ancestors were insectoid in nature. Behind him, he was dragging a smaller being, covered completely in a tawny brown fur. 

“You nearly blew our whole operation! Seven months of work! For Nothing!!” The larger man shouted. 

“It- I, it isn’t right! I want out! What your doing here- it- we can’t! It’s-“

“Oh yeah?” The big man made his way to the nearest crate of flowers and Jon held his breath. The man grabbed one of the flowers and shook it into the smaller mans face as the little man squirmed and clawed and did everything he could not to inhale any of the dust the flower was putting off. “Your going to drive that truck to your booth. And your going to sell these flowers.” 

“I am going to drive my truck to my booth and sell the flowers.” The furred man repeated. The fight draining out of him. 

“There’s nothing wrong with what we are doing. People are happier when they just do as they’re told.” The Bigger man said. The small one just nodded as he was released. There was a moment of silence before the familiar tones of Basira’s ringtone filled the space. 

Everything happened quickly after that, both of the men immediately turned and tried to find the source of the sound, Daisy jumped the larger man screaming at them to run, Jon tried to keep track of Martin and Georgie but he got separated somehow and turned around in the gardens as he ran. 

Eventually he found himself outside again, but he had barely made it half a block before he ran headlong into someone. 

“Woah there! Where are you off to in such a hurry?” A friendly voice said as the man Jon had bowled into helped Jon to his feet. As he stood Jon realized that the man he ran into was wearing a uniform. With a name tag saying Officer Brown. Jon wasn’t sure whether to sigh in relief or tense further. He took a gamble. 

“Officer there’s something going on in the botanical gardens it’s- there’s some kind of flower that- it’s a drug.” He tried, the Marquis shifted around his shoulders as he gestured. “The men there they were chasing my friends and I- and,” 

“Ok, ok, calm down son.” Officer Brown said. “Let me see some ID and I can take a statement and we’ll see if we can’t work out what happened yeah?” Jon tensed at the word statement, but forced himself to breathe through his panic, the Marquis gently purring and wrapping herself around his mind and throat. Jon fished around in his pocket for the psychic paper and tried to focus enough to create some kind of ID card that would make sense. The officer stared at the card for a good long while. Long enough that Jon began to sweat. Then the officer turned back to look at Jon. He took out something that looked like a smart phone and a red light flashed briefly at Jon. The officer stared at the readout on the screen, and handed Jon back his psychic paper. 

“Ok Jon, lets get you down to the station and we can figure everything out from there.” 

“No my friends are-“

“I’ll make sure to send some officers out to find them, it was very irresponsible of them to leave you all alone.” Jon froze. He recognized that tone of voice. It was the sort of patronizing voice that adults used with very young children. Jon had hated it when he was a child and he hated it now. With slowly building dread he looked at the psychic paper. Jon didn’t recognize the style of ID, but he could read, and the card very clearly stated species as Gallifreyian, and it very clearly marked him as a minor. Jon groaned. 

He tensed, debating whether or not it was wise- or even safe to make a run for it. He felt a hand on his shoulder as the Officer guided him towards a vehicle of some sort. Jon looked around desperately hoping to see anyone he recognized. While he didn’t see anyone friendly, he did see the larger man from the gardens looking directly at him. 

Jon got into the vehicle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to hit me up on tumblr @nireidi I always love chatting with new folks 😊 though I won’t be particularly active till after Thursday


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well the good news for you all is that my exam has me stress writing lol, so here’s a bonus chapter of nigh same day posting.
> 
> Your comments, are genuinely the best part of my day, thank you so much to everyone who is reading and reviewing it means the world to me.

Chapter 24

“Ok Jon, can you tell me where your mom or dad is?” Officer Brown said, as he passed the phone scanner thing to his partner- and a look of understanding came across her face, she looked back at Jon. Then to her partner, 

“Do you see those scars, shouldn’t we be calling child protective services?” She had spoken in a different language, then the one officer brown had spoke, but Jon understood it all the same thanks to the TARDIS translation circuits. Jon nearly screamed in frustration. 

“Doctors appointment.” He said trying not to sound like he was forcing it out. He was going to have to play the roll they were forcing him into- especially since he could still see the men from the Garden looking around the area. Officer Brown started the vehicle and they began to move away. 

“Hi Jon, I’m Officer Claire, can you tell me why you were all alone?” The Marquis shifted on Jon shoulder and he opened his mouth to answer, but Officer Claire misinterpreted- assuming he’s was going to protest being alone. “Oh I know you have your protector there so you aren’t really alone- what’s their name?” It was painful how obvious it was that she was trying to build his trust. 

“Her name is Marquis du Ferret.” He replied, and the patronizing smile he received at the name was physically painful. 

“That’s a wonderful name, I bet she does a great job keeping you safe.” The Marquis trilled at the praise, but Jon could feel she was just as aggravated at the situation as he was. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was reading his aggravation, or if she was aware enough to understand what exactly was going on, but it was comforting to have at least one being on his side here. 

“So Jon, who was looking after you while your parents were at the doctors?” Officer Brown asked, a little less patronizing but not by much. 

“Family friends.” Jon forced out. He didn’t need a babysitter. 

“Can you tell us their names, and what they looked like? We can send a few officers out to find them. I know it’s scary when you get lost.” Jon considered this for a moment, if he told the police about the others, at the very least it would get them away from the men at the Garden. If nothing else, it should at least help them figure out what happened to him. He sighed and gave first names and descriptions and he watched at Officer Claire called it in on her radio in the same language she had spoken to her partner in. Jon supposed it must be some sort of police only language or code. 

The rest of the ride was spent answering uncomfortable questions about his favourite colours, what subjects he liked in school, and attempting to dodge probing questions about his home planet and parents. Every so often the two cops would say something to each other in their code language about his scars, or behaviour indicative of suspected child abuse. Which wasn’t really a good sign, the last thing he needed was to have to try to escape child protective services on top of everything else. 

He thought about reaching out to the Doctor, but he didn’t want to risk distracting her when Melanie needed her. They only had half an hour left before they were supposed to be back at the hospital anyway. Jon was intimately aware of time passing, of every inch of the planet rotating. It felt natural to be so aware of time- but it also left him hyper aware of how little time he had to get out of police custody. 

Upon arriving at the police station he was ushered into what Jon assumed was an interrogation room. It was plain grey with what he imagines was supposed to be a sheet of one way glass on one wall. Except, he could clearly see through it, despite the lights being off inside the room. He suspected it might be another weird quirk of alien biology he had yet to discuss with the Doctor. 

The officers had provided him with a tablet that seemed to open only to a colouring page and a tablet pen to select colours with. Jon was equally unimpressed by the juice box that had been left for him.He tried not to make it look like he was actively watching the one way glass, but he could see officers watching him and talking to each other. Jon looked down at the tablet pretending to colour. He felt the Marquis gently probe at the edge of his mind, as if asking permission for something. Jon didn’t fully understand what she was trying to do, so he let her into his mind a little deeper. 

Suddenly he had double vision. He shut his eyes. He could now clearly see the officers behind the double glass. The Marquis trilled in excitement. Cradling Jon in her own mind and letting him use her eyes. She didn’t see in the same range of colour as Jon, so things looked drastically different from his own sight, but it allowed him to see what was going on without raising suspicion. He could tell from the way the Marquis curled comfortingly around his neck that this was a gift- not from the Eye, but from her. He could feel her utter adoration for him, and he didn’t bother trying to stop the tears it brought to his eyes. 

He heard the hydraulics of the door start to hiss, and quickly wiped his eyes and slipped out of the Marquis mind, knowing that she would keep an eye on the police behind the glass and let him know if anything happened. He turned his attention to the door. Officer Brown walked in. 

“Hi Jon, we think we found one of your babysitters, but can you confirm for us?” He asked, holding out the phone like scanner with an image of Georgie on it. Jon nodded. 

“That’s Georgie, can I go now?” Officer Brown sighed. 

“Sorry kiddo,” Jon tried to fight the urge to sneer or flinch at the name. “She didn’t have any ID on her, and protocol says we can’t release you to her without it, if she can call you parents and get their consent-“

“Can I see her please?” Jon cut in, hopefully Georgie had been playing along, but Jon needed time talk to her before she said anything that might make it harder for them to get out of here. “I- I want to see her.” He tried his best to sound childlike, but he wasn’t sure he succeeded, he hadn’t been good at sounding like a child when he was 5 let alone now. Officer Brown smiled at him. 

“Ok son, she can wait with you for your parents in here ok?” Jon let out a sigh of relief. Officer Brown turned to someone standing on the other side of the door, and spoke in the police code again. 

“Get the officers to watch for signs of abuse though the one way glass, should let us know if child protective services need to be involved.” Officer Brown left and Jon swallowed hard and tried to make it look like he was absorbed in his colouring- he needed to think of something fast- Georgie was far more likely to slap him then not for getting them into this mess, and that would only complicate things. He waited for the door hydraulics to sound, he would only have one shot- he very carefully reached out to the TARDIS, his connection wasn’t great, but it was enough to shut Georgies translation circuit connection off. He deactivated his as well, that way he could be certain the officers wouldn’t be able to understand what they were saying.The door opened. 

Jon got up and ran to Georgie wrapping his arms around her. 

“Play along.” He whispered sharply into her ear and she very tensely returned the hug. 

“What the fuck is going on Jon?” She whispered back through clenched teeth. Jon grabbed her hand and pulled her to the table and began to pretend to show her his colouring tablet. 

“You need to reach over and ruffle my hair- do it.” He pleaded trying desperately to look casual. Georgie did, and Jon tried his best to give a warm smile. “They are watching us through the one way, you need to act like a worried babysitter, or they are going to call child protective services on us and we’ll never get out of here.” Georgie reaches over to grab Jon’s hand, playing along with his instructions best she could. 

“Jon, is there a reason that the police think you are a child.” It wasn’t a question. It was a demand. 

“They may believe so, because apparently citizen ID cards have the species age of majority on them.” 

“Jon-“ That was a warning tone, Jon resisted the urge to tense. He looked down at the drawing and stared through the Marquis eyes instead. “What exactly is the age of majority for your-“ she waved a hand in his general direction. “Species.” He fought back a wince. 

“It- um. Well.”

“Jon.”

“200.” Georgie was quiet. Jon pulled his mind back to his own eyes and risked a look up at her. She was staring at him in disbelief. He wasn’t sure what reaction to expect- what he wasn’t expecting was for Georgie to stand up, walk around the table and pull Jon into a hug. He tensed for a moment in disbelief before relaxing into it. 

“Oh” He breathed out. The Marquis purred loudly, flapping her wings once and jumping onto Jon’s head to better allow Georgie to envelop him. 

“Ok, now we are going to sit down and you are going to explain exactly what that means.” Georgie said finally breaking the hug. Jon nodded carefully not trusting his voice. They both sat back down. “I assume you figured out some way that they can’t hear us?” She asked. 

“I- um turned off the TARDIS’s translation circuits. So unless they speak 21st century earth english, which they don’t, they’ll have no way to understand what we are saying. It would be like speaking ancient Sumerian. The language is so old and dead at this point they would need to bring in an expert to even hope to understand it. Georgie nodded. 

“Ok Jon, now what exactly does it mean that you have,” she paused to do the math. “167 years before you reach adulthood.” Jon sighed. The Marquis climbed down from his head and settled in his arms. He scratched under her chin absentmindedly. 

“Time Lords don’t age the same way- that, umwell.” He gave her a helpless look. 

“Ok.” She said indicating that she understood, and for him to go on. 

“So there isn’t really a human equivalent in terms of development. But, well; the Chameleon Arch, the thing that made me human, it screwed a lot of things up. Imagine if you took a baby, and transformed it into a monkey. In five years time, you would have an adult monkey, but if you turned it back into a human, mentally it would still be an adult monkey.” He looked back at her his eyes begging her to understand. She nodded. 

“It’s- like that. I was taken as a baby, and Jonah Magnus, turned me into a human, so I aged like one, mentally and physically- so for all intents and purposes I am an adult human male.”

“I’m sensing a big ‘but’ here.” Georgie said. 

“But- on Gallifrey; I would still be considered a child. A very young child I’m afraid. The way the Doctor explains it, legally I would be given more freedoms then a typical child my age given my advanced maturity both mentally and physically, but it- well, it- I suppose that doesn’t really matter, Gallifrey is gone.” He risked a look back at her. Her face was impassive. 

“I honestly don’t know what to do with that.” She said. Jon laughed. 

“Neither do I.” He rubbed a hand across his face. “It’s- I remember being a child on Gallifrey, I remember seeing other children- one of my adopted siblings was 83, she had started school a few years before, proper school that is, the Academy- which, I suppose doesn’t mean much to you, there’s, a lot to try and-“ he sighed again. He didn’t even know where to begin explaining this stuff, he had been so young when he was taken, and Time Lord memory or not, he only had a child’s understanding of things. 

“There is- a lot to unpack here.” She said. “And If you think I’m going to keep this from Melanie you are very wrong, but right now, we need to focus on getting out of here.” Now should be about the right time for them to be meeting the Doctor Jon noted, forcefully ignoring the spike of anxiety Georgie telling Melanie about his adolescent status caused. He tentatively reached out- and felt a wave of worry and affection. He relayed the situation and was told to hold tight. Apparently Martin had found the Doctor seconds before and relayed some of what had happened. Jon felt some of his tension ease knowing Martin was safe at least. Basira and Daisy, he was pretty sure could probably handle themselves, though looking for them would be a priority once they got out of here. 

“I-uh, may have a solution to that at least.” Jon said. Georgie raised an eyebrow. “Well, um, I mentioned before that Time Lords are telepathic, which is where a lot of my accidental compulsion was coming from, and that the Doctor has helped me block out the entities with psychic shielding- well, when a- um, when a Time Lord child is adopted, the family forms psychic bonds, to protect the child, since they don’t have mental shields of their own.” Jon scratched at the back of his neck. Hoping Georgie would understand what he was getting at. 

“So the Doctor is- when she helped you block out the entities, she adopted you?” Georgie asked carefully, wanting to ensure that she fully understood what Jon was saying. 

“Yes?” He sighed. “It’s, well, yes. So she has a sort of direct line to my mind essentially.”

“That sounds awful.”

“It’s, no, it’s not really, it, well it feels right? My, my memories from before, I had dozens of relatives in my head, it’s- normal. The bond, it’s not like she can read my thoughts, but she can feel some emotions, and it lets her find me if she needs to. It’s sort of, well it’s like imagine you grew up your whole life without anyone ever touching you. And then a bunch of monsters arrived and started giving you pats in the back and braiding your hair, and because you don’t know any better, it feels nice, right. 

That’s- that’s how this feels. The Eye, the entities, all of it, it felt right because I didn’t know what it was supposed to be like. The Doctor, the TARDIS, even the Marquis, it feels natural, like being hugged after having been alone for a long time.” Jon fiddled with the feathers on the Marquis tail. Not ready to look at her. 

“I’m sorry Jon. That sounds really lonely.” 

“Right, well the thing is, the Doctor is on her way to rescue us, so there’s a few things I need you to tell the police. It should make it easier for us to get out of here.” Georgie took A deep breath, recentring herself, focus shifting from Jon’s adolescent status to jailbreak. 

“Ok, what do I need to do?” 

“Tell the police that I was recently removed from an unfit home, and that my, my mother now has full custody of me. You can make something up about me being prone to running away, but your working on it.” Jon swallowed, it was a little too similar to the truth of his childhood for comfort but there was nothing to be done about that. “I suspect they already know that- that my, um species is telepathic, they didn’t question the Marquis, so, you can tell them that I’ve been in touch with my, my mom and to expect her here soon. That should make our release a bit easier.” Georgie have Jon an appraising look. 

“Is that what she is to you Jon?” Jon looked a Georgie, and then down at the Marquis, who gave a comforting trill. 

“I- yes. She’s my mom.” Georgie nodded. 

“Ok, well lets get out of here then.” Jon reactivated the translation circuit and Georgie knocked on the door to get someone’s attention- relaying Jon’s message to the officer who answered. Jon let out a tense breath. The Doctor was coming, and while things weren’t great, there was a small part of him that he couldn’t quite snuff out that believed that things really would be ok. For once he didn’t try too hard to stop believing it. 


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I promise I’ll have 26 up soon, my exam is done- thank goodness, so now I have lots of time for writing, it is my birthday on the 14th, so at the very least I promise you’ll get a chapter by then as a birthday gift to myself 😋  
> This chapter features artwork by the lovely CapucineImaginaire, thank you so much for the lovely work!
> 
> And thank you again to everyone who takes the time to comment, your comments are always the best part of my day and i appreciate them so much.

Artwork by [@capucineimaginaire](https://capucineimaginaire.tumblr.com/)

Chapter 25

Melanie King was having an exceptionally weird day. To start with, she was allegedly abducted by aliens. Which, in the grand scheme of how weird her life had gotten since joining the Magnus Institute, wasn’t really all that weird. Even finding out that Jon had secretly been an alien the entire time she had known him wasn’t as surprising as it probably should have been, the fact that his, supposed species called themselves the Time Lords was just sort of par for the course at this point. 

What was weird, was being able to see in colours that didn’t exist. Three different colours that didn’t exist to be exact. The thermal vision function she could now see in as well was weird too. She would undoubtably get used to it, but it wasn’t what she had really expected when she had been talking over customization options with the eye technician. Still Melanie certainly wasn’t complaining. 

The other thing that was weird, was leaving the clinic, only, instead of her wonderful girlfriend meeting them, it was Martin. Only Martin. Which, wasn’t great, since he was missing about four and a half people or so at last count. 

Apparently Jon and Georgie had somehow managed to get themselves arrested, which in and of itself wasn’t entirely unexpected, Jon could come across a tad unhinged, and honestly Melanie was 90% sure the only reason he hadn’t been arrested back on Earth was because of the Institute. Georgie being arrested was a bit of a surprise, but Melanie had sort of assumed it was Jon’s fault somehow. When they got to the police station, the Doctor pulled them aside. 

“Ok, so Jon’s told me the situation, when we go inside, I need you two to act like we lost a toddler and are beside ourselves with worry.” Melanie didn’t really think the Doctor or Martin needed to play their worry up all that much, Martin hadn’t been able to stop wringing his hands together, and the Doctor had been babbling about the history of the planet the entire walk over, in the same sort of way that Melanie’s cousin with ADHD did when she was nervous about something. 

“Is there a reason we need to pretend that?” She asked. The Doctor looked like she had just recalled something. 

“Ah- yes, well Jon was taken into custody as an unaccompanied minor, so-“ Melanie snorted, but then froze. Neither of the others were laughing. 

“Wait seriously?” The silence that met her was a very clear answer. “Oh I have sooo many questions about that for later- but fine go on.” The Doctor and Martin exchanged a look. Melanie relished for a moment in her ability to see it. 

“So we are going to have to look properly worried or we risk child protective services being involved which, would make it very difficult to get to Jon.” Melanie’s head was spinning a little. 

“We are talking about the same Jon right? The one who looks like he was born at middle age? He didn’t accidentally find a curse fountain of youth right?” 

“Time Lord aging is different.” The Doctor said after a moment. Which, honestly just left Melanie with more questions then before, but fine- she’d interrogate them later, after she had her girlfriend back. They went into the police station, and the Doctor went right up to the receptionist, already holding out a piece of what Melanie had initially thought was blank paper. 

“Hi, I’m Doctor Sims, I’m here to collect Jonathon Sims.” The receptionist immediately smiled at that. 

“Oh Doctor Sims! I’m so glad you’re here! The officers who brought him in just have to go over a few things with you, but I will let him know his mom is here to get him.” She tapped the headset on her left ear and asked Officer Brown to come to reception. “Officer Brown will be right with you.” She said, and got up and walked off deeper into the building somewhere, presumable to get Jon- and hopefully Georgie. Melanie wasn’t sure what to make of the Doctor being called Jon’s mom, but she filed it away as something to ask about later- though not without considerable effort. Melanie had always been the sort of girl to say what was on her mind. 

Officer Brown made an appearance shortly after the receptionist had left he greeted the Doctor with a cautious smile and guiding them into a small room. 

“Right, I’ll keep this brief. But I need to ask for the record, you understand.” The Doctor nodded and Melanie got the impression that her and Martin weren’t really involved in this conversation. 

“Ok, so according to Jon’s babysitter, you only recently gained custody of him from his father is that correct?” Officer Brown began. 

“Yes.” The Doctors voice held something Melanie couldn’t quite place. “It was- not a good situation.” Her voice was tight, a clear warning of the shaky ground the topic was. 

“Alright, now, from what we observed none of the scars Jon has are more then a few years old, so you have to know how that looks in a child as young as he is for your species.” Melanie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from reacting. The Doctor’s shoulders tightened. 

“Yes. Trust me when I say his father no longer has any right to Jon.” The wording sounded odd, like something didn’t translate quite right. Clearly the officer understood though, because he gave the Doctor an appraising look before nodding. 

“Well, he’s a very well behaved kid, and that service animal of his probably deserves a treat or two, did a great job of keeping him calm. My partner Claire, will bring Jon and-“ The Officer glanced at a file on the table. “Georgie out to you.” He guided them back to the reception and not two minutes later, Jon and Georgie came around the corner. The Doctor didn’t hesitate to sweep Jon into a hug, pulling Martin along into it, Melanie soared a thought to be surprised that Jon didn’t seem to be resisting the hug, and another though for how weird the little dragon ferret on his shoulder was, but then her mind was full of thoughts of Georgie. 

Melanie had forgotten how perfect Georgie was. The two of them had to be gently guided out the door by an exasperated Martin and Jon, Melanie never wanted to stop looking at Georgie again. 

***

Jon was obviously relieved to see Martin alive and well, but now that he was free from police custody he had even more worries about Daisy and Basira. 

“We need to find the others.” He said once they were a decent distance away from the police station. 

“Right best place to start would be the Gardens then.” The Doctor agreed. She was still a little worked up. She hadn’t felt Jon’s fear or panic when he was arrested. Hadn’t felt anything of concern at all until he reached out and called to her. Which, really wasn’t a good sign. It could only mean one of three things. Best case scenario, it meant that Jon was a much stronger telepath then she had originally thought, which, considering Magnus’s manipulations surrounding Jon’s birth, was more likely then not. Option two, the entities were more closely tied to Jon then the Doctor had originally thought and had been feeding off of his fear even now. Consuming it long before it trickled over to her, preventing her from knowing when Jon was in danger. Or worse it was some horrible combination of the two. 

“Ok so Jon, I gotta ask-“ Melanie began, her hand firmly holding Georgie’s but her curiosity having finally outweighed her desire to stare at her girlfriend. At least for now. 

“200.” Jon said with a sigh, having a decent idea of what she was asking. 

“Wait- your 200?” She said incredulously. 

“What? Oh, no, I’m- I’m 33, I thought you were going to ask how old adulthood was.”

“Oh I was I’m messing with you kiddo.” Melanie said and Jon glared. Melanie laughed, she was going to have so much fun teasing him. She did some mental math as they were walking. 

“Hang on- that would make you like, 3 in Human years!” 

“No.” Jon said firmly. The use of the phrase human years made him feel like he was being referred to as a cat of some sort. “The species equivalent isn’t-“

“Sure, sure, but, that’s like 16% of your childhood right? So your a baby.” Jon bristled. And the little purple creature on his shoulder did too. “Should I get you a teething ring?” 

“Not for another 50 years or so.” The Doctor said absentmindedly, still absorbed in her concerns about Jon to really be paying overmuch attention to the conversation. Melanie laughed and Jon paled slightly, unsure if the Doctor had been kidding. 

***

When they got to the Gardens the Doctor had more or less pulled herself together and had started to talk more about the planet- pointing out specific things to Jon that she figured a young Time Lord should know. Like if he were to hit the pipes one that building there with a sonic burst for example, it would cause all the sprinklers to go off near by. Or how if he were to drive one of the floating vehicles racing past, he could bypass the legal speed control limits set by switching certain engine components. 

It did occur to her as she was talking that maybe she shouldn’t be teaching Jon things that might encourage illegal behaviour, but they were useful skills! 

She strode into the botanical Gardens with a sense of purpose- marching right up to the front desk psychic paper in hand. 

“Hi we are with the plant inspection agency. Just here to inspect that your plants are- growing.” She said flashing the card and walking right past the ticket clerk leaving the others to follow like confused ducklings. 

“Through there.” Jon pointed, firmly telling himself that hiding behind the Doctor was logical behaviour rather then childish behaviour. Those flowers scared him. Anything that could control the mind like that, well it hit a little close to home. The Doctor slowly approached the door, finding it locked she zapped it with the sonic screwdriver. Melanie was immediately jealous. She needed one of those. 

The door swung open. Most of the crates of flowers were gone, loaded up into a truck that was almost completely full. The larger man that had menaced them before was no where in sight, but the smaller furry man was diligently loading the last of the boxes into the truck- along with Basira. 

“No.” Jon breathed in horror. Free from the Eye only to be enslaved by a flower. Daisy was there too, but she appeared to be unconscious on the ground. 

“Basira!” Melanie shouted. Not understanding the situation. She hadn’t seen what the flowers could do. Basira turned her face blank. 

“Intruders!” She shouted. And chaos erupted. Jon honestly wasn’t sure what happened; there was shouting, and he though some kind of laser gun got shot- the big man from before reappeared and the truck started driving away. Jon didn’t know what he was thinking, but he dove for it. The rear hatch wasn’t finished closing and he managed to tuck himself into it. He had to get to Basira- he wouldn’t lose a friend to more mind controlling bullshit. 

He only realized his mistake when he heard the doors fully close behind him, and felt the sharp jerky movements of the truck. He was alone, in a moving vehicle full of mind altering flowers. He really hoped that the dizziness he was feeling was because he hadn’t eaten in a while. But his luck was never that good. He could feel his mind starting to drift. The Marquis tugged at his hair, and butted him in the face, trying to keep him present but it was so hard to focus. He needed to know how to counter act the flowers- and he needed to know now. If only he could- well, he could know couldn’t he? He could _Know_ at least. 

Carefully, he reached out along the edges of his mind. He could feel the Doctor panicking, and he tried to send along reassurances but he didn’t know if it got through. 

It was so hard to focus. 

He followed the strand that he knew was the Eye, and he lowered the wall holding it back just a fraction just enough to Know what he needed to. 

And then he did. 

He Knew. 

The wall was back in place and it was going to be ok. 

“Hello Jon.” Whispered a voice in his mind. A very familiar voice. A voice that could only belong to one, Jonah Magnus. 


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok it’s a bit of a short one, because I didn’t want to leave you all in suspense for too long. 
> 
> Apparently the next two weeks are going to be the worst for my province- so I will be stuck inside and bored so hopefully I’ll get back to updating close to everyday.
> 
> Your comments are so very welcome and appreciated, they keep me sane and positive in this crazy time.

Chapter 26

“No.” Jon breathed out in horror. 

‘ _Oh yes I’m afraid so_. ’ The honeyed tones of Jonah Magnus echoing across Jon’s mind. He shut his eyes, as if that might help weaken Magnus’s connection to him. _‘_ _Oh don’t think that that will help. You opened the gate to this Jon. You let the Eye back in_ .’ Jon couldn’t see him, but he could feel the smirk all the same. Jon could feel poor Marquis pushing at Magnus, doing everything she could to evict the foreign presence in Jon’s mind. 

_‘You didn’t really think just because you found a way off earth you were safe did you?_ ’ Jon didn’t say anything. ‘ _Oh you did, really Jon that’s quite childish of you. I expected better_.’

“What do you want from me?” Jon finally asked, unable to take it anymore. 

_‘What I’ve always wanted from you Jon. Though I must say if you have to ask that, perhaps I made a mistake when I created you- surely it can’t be my DNA that would lead you to ask such imbecilic questions. No matter. You really have put me in a rather unfortunate position Jon_ _.’_ For a moment Jon almost had hope perhaps he was out of Magnus’ reach, telepathy notwithstanding. Even now, Jon could feel an instability of Jonahs presence, the Marquis was pushing him out. 

“I’d apologize for that but I’m really not sorry.” Jon bit out. He tried to reach out to the Doctor, but it was still so hard to focus, the flowers were keeping him trapped in his own mind. Him and the Marquis were on their own. 

‘ _No I don’t imagine you are. No matter. You will have to come back to Earth eventually, I was content to wait I really was, so imagine my surprise when the prodigal son returned to the Eye’s embrace willingly! That need to Know is a strong one isn’t it?_ ’ Jon needed heat, the pollen’s effects didn’t work well in the heat. 

“Were you going to say something of use or were you just here to taunt me.” Jon wished he could pretend that this was a hallucination caused by the flowers, but it wasn’t. He could feel Magnus’ slimy fingers in his mind. And he Knew, the pollen was weakening his already compromised mental defences. Making it even easier for the man to slip inside his head. 

_‘Well I will offer congratulations at least, you very nearly won! I don’t know how you managed to hide all your friends so well, or how you managed to so thoroughly block me out of your mind. Honestly Jon I’m impressed. Of course I thought about hurting a random employee- but be honest Jon you don’t really care about people. Just your people. You did forget someone though. I believe you called him the Admiral?_ _’_ Jon’s blood went cold, he paused in his attempts to find the lighter in his pocket. 

_ ‘ Oh, not to worry, he’s still alive. Not a very affectionate feline is he? _ ’ Jon hoped the Admiral had bitten Magnus.  ‘ _And in case that wasn’t enough incentive, well, do you recall those nanites in your blood? Did you remember to check your friends for anything extra?_ ’  Jon’s hand finally closed around the lighter. Magnus continued to taunt him, but Jon couldn’t focus on that- he grabbed one of the crates holding the flowers took a deep breath and smashed it against the floor of the truck. A wave of pollen erupted inside the truck. Jon grabbed the small pieces of wood and managed to get them to light. The flowers themselves were too fresh to burn but the wooden crate went up quickly. Jon breathed in the smoke. Magnus’s voice in his head got a tiny bit fainter. 

The Marquis pounced on it, and Jon could feel the invading presence being pushed back. Jon reaches out for the Doctor, his mind finally clear enough to do so. 

_‘I’ll be Seeing you Jon_ _._ ’ Was the last thing he heard before Magnus was finally pushed out and the presence of the Doctor filled Jon’s head. 

_‘_ _Jon! Jon are you alright???_ ’ The Doctor’s panic washed over Jon, but it pushed the remains of Magnus out and he welcomed her with a sigh of relief. 

_ ‘ I’m ok, though I think I may be running out of oxygen.’ _

The fire wasn’t large, but there wasn’t a lot of the truck that wasn’t packed full of crates, and putting the fire out really wasn’t an option. 

_‘_ _Right ok; that model of truck should have an emergency door release on the left side. Do you see it?_ ’

Jon took another deep breath of the smoke filled air and held his breath going to the left side. 

_ ‘ But if I release this all the pollen from the flowers is going to be released onto the streets- all those people at the mercy of-‘ _

_‘Jon-‘_

He felt a wave of her fondness, exasperation, pride and fear. Jon told himself that her fear didn’t feel good- but with his connection to the Eye so close to the surface right now, he knew with a rush of shame that it was a lie. The worst part was that Magnus’s words kept echoing in his head ‘you don’t really care about people.’ And he was right. Jon wanted to care about the people of this world. He knew what was being done here was wrong, but he felt nothing. 

He felt nothing, but that didn’t mean he was going to choose to do nothing. 

_ ‘ Heat renders the pollen inactive. I can’t produce enough in here without cooking myself alive but if-‘  _

_‘I’ve got an idea for that- if you can find a way to get out of the truck safely, we have a way to cook those flowers.’_

Jon sent back a confirmation, he would need to wait until the truck stoped on its own, he needed to get Basira out of here too. He leaned against the wall of the truck, the Marquis curled tightly around his throat. Trembling with exhaustion from fighting off Magnus. 

Jon stroked her fur gently. And felt nothing but her love and protection- despite Jon putting her at risk. Her gentle purring was almost enough for Jon to stop thinking about the words of Jonah Magnus. 

***

The Doctor had run first to Daisy laying motionless on the ground, and had only seen to late, that Jon had somehow managed to get himself into the moving truck. It was honestly mind boggling how much trouble Jon seemed capable of getting himself into in the course of a single day. Which, coming from her was saying something. 

She passed responsibility for Daisy off to Melanie who seemed pretty confident in her first aid abilities and focused on trying to talk to Jon, besides, Daisy seemed to be waking up anyway. There was a familiar slippery feeling to his mind and the Doctor tried to stop the cold dread that settled in her stomach. When she finally got through she knew likely all Jon could feel was her own panic, and hearing his voice in her mind, she felt a wave of relief. The Doctor turned back around, and was pleased to see Daisy already sitting up. 

“Daisy! Hi! Yes, right ok, do you have any idea where they are taking that truck?”

“Flower festival. They are going to use the flowers on the judges and sell as many as they can, then convince the affected individuals to give them all their credits.” Daisy rubbed at her head. “The pollen didn’t really work on me but they have Basira I-“

“They have Jon too-“ Martin cut in worry clear in his voice. 

“Oh! Actually Jon is alright, and according to Jon the pollen can be neutralized with heat” she clapped her hands together. “Right, Melanie! How do you feel about using some of those upgrades that you got to your eyes that you thought I didn’t notice?” Melanie lit up at that. 

“Wait are you serious?” 

“Oh absolutely!” The Doctor said with a grin, already on her way to the door, she had a son to save and some flowers to cook. The others exchanged glances but quickly made to follow after her. Martin helping Daisy to her feet. 

***

Martin was going to try very hard not to think about how they got to the city centre where the festival was being held. He was 90% sure they had stolen a vehicle and broken about 20 or so laws, and Daisy and Melanie enjoyed it far to much in Martins opinion. The Doctor had also seemed far too distracted to be driving a vehicle at the speeds they were going. 

“Right, when we get there, I’ll get Jon. Melanie, you and Georgie get into position to do your thing and Daisy, Martin; you grab Basira. And get to somewhere safe.” When the Doctor spotted the truck she didn’t even wait until the vehicle was fully stopped, vaulting out and hitting the ground running, sonic screwdriver already out and buzzing. Martin watched just long enough to see Jon tumble out of the truck in a cloud of smoke, seemingly ok, before following the directives given. 

The Doctor for her part was fussing a bit over Jon, he had inhaled a great deal of smoke, but it was the bloodshot eyes that had her most worried. Something wasn’t right. She shone a pen light in his eyes, pupillary responses indicative of psychic trauma. 

“Jon what happened?” She asked. 

“I’d very much like to know that too-“ The Doctor turned around very slowly to find a very large insectoid man, holding a laser pistol to her back. 


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a self indulgent birthday gift to myself lol, as today is my birthday :) 
> 
> Thank you so so much to THISisGREAT for the amazing artwork best gift I've received in years! 
> 
> Your comments make me feel less like I'm spending my birthday alone in quarantine, so thank you!!
> 
> also hit me up on tumblr if you want to say hi, @nireidi :)

Art work by the incredible [THISisGREAT](https://archiveofourown.org/users/THISisGREAT/pseuds/THISisGREAT)

Chapter 27

“Do you mind not pointing that at me? It’s only I’m not a big fan of guns.” She quickly glanced around, the truck had pulled into a space slightly away from other flower booths and they were completely blocked from view of anyone nearby.

“I do mind actually.” The man said with a sneer. At least Jon assumed it was a sneer it was sort of hard to tell. He took a deep breath prepared to attempt to Compel the man, fear and dread racing through him wondering if this would be the final straw, if this would let the Entities into his mind fully.

“Right, only the thing is, I’m not really a big fan of guns.” The Doctor seemed unaware of how close Jon had been to speaking. “Now, what I’d really like to know, is how you managed to get a hold of a shipment of Lethe flowers- I thought they were banned in 8 different systems! And they’re endangered!” The man did not look impressed with the Doctors rambling.

“Walk.” The man said, nodding his head to direct them towards an alley way even more hidden from sight.

“Ok- fine fine we’re walking- so is there any chance I can convince you, not to shoot us and to turn the flowers over to the proper authorities?” Jon was incredulous. How on earth did she think that was going to work? Apparently their captor thought much the same because he actually laughed.

“Yeah I kind of figured that would be your answer. Last chance.” Jon turned to see confusion on his face. Then, when he glanced over his shoulder back at his truck, a sense of dawning horror. Melanie was standing nearby staring at the truck, only the spot she was staring at, appeared to be smouldering- in fact a great deal of the truck appeared to be smouldering. And- oh, that probably wasn’t good- Jon felt the Doctor grab the collar of his shirt and he was pulled to the ground just as the top of the truck blew off from the pressure. Showering the now harmless petals into the air. The Doctor- temporarily forgetting the man pointing a gun at them was excitedly telling Jon about the history of the Lethe blossom and how it could be used for therapeutic purposes if used in small doses.

“You destroyed my flowers!! Thousands of credits- I’m going to kill you!!” Jon felt time seem to slow down, the moment watching the man’s finger tighten on the trigger aimed at the Doctor seemed to last forever. He opened his mouth to try and Compel the man, or at least buy them time, but his so recent interaction with Magnus made him hesitate, just a split second too long. Jon reacted anyway, attempting to get in front of the Doctor, and take the blast himself.

Luckily he didn’t have to, as the man suddenly screamed in pain and collapsed. Jon met eyes with Melanie standing in the same place she had been when the truck blew. She pumped her first in the air. And Georgie gave her a high five.

“Heat Vision rules!” Jon heard her shout. He could hear sirens in the distance.

“Jon I think it might be a good idea for us to get out of here. Now.” The Doctor said pulling Jon to his feet and dragging him to meet with the others, her hand warm in his. Jon could see Daisy had thrown Basira over her shoulder, the other woman presumably knocked unconscious.

“Run!” The Doctor cried gleefully was they made their escape from the steaming wreckage of the truck.

***

Back in the TARDIS the atmosphere was lighter then Jon could ever remember it being at the archives. For the first time in a very long time no one was upset with him, and people were smiling and joking. He couldn’t bring himself to mention Jonah Magnus. But it weighed heavily on his mind.

He promised himself he would tell everyone tomorrow. Let them have one night of peaceful sleep, then they would need to check everyone for nanites or whatever else Magnus had meant when he asked if Jon had checked his friends for “anything extra.”

Of course it didn’t work out that way. Jon found himself lying awake in worry long after Martin had fallen asleep. The Marquis lay curled up on a pillow next to them, snoring gently; with her asleep Jon couldn’t help but feel anxious. He carefully extricated himself and found himself wandering to the library. He knew The Doctor was there, and he wanted to be around someone safe.

“Oh hello Jon.” The Doctor said, looking up from a mess of books and notes, presumably about the Entities. “I was wondering if you’d join me tonight.”

“Is insomnia a standard Time Lord trait?” He joked.

“Hmm? Oh no! I suppose you would have been too young to have much of a normal sleep schedule back on Gallifrey. Time Lord biology 101, we tend to sleep once a week by Human standards.” Huh. That was... Jon filed that away for later. He had a great deal of questions about that, but it wasn’t the priority for now.

“I think one of the others might have nanites too.” He said. The Doctor looked away from her reading, giving Jon her full attention. “It’s- Magnus he,” Jon couldn’t find the words. He sent her the memory instead.

“Oh Jon.” She said her voice filled with something he couldn’t define. She got up and wrapped her arms around him.

“Right, hot cocoa, stat.” She said gently pulling him to the kitchen. Jon didn’t say much, though the Doctor kept up a quiet monologue about where she got this recipe for cocoa, from a monk in the 32nd century. She then gently guided Jon to the TARDIS control room and opened the doors to the outside.

Beyond the doors there was nothing but stars. There were far more colours to space then Jon could have ever imagined. They sat, their feet hanging over the edge of the door, warm cocoa in their hands and the Doctor finally went quiet, giving Jon time to think about what he wanted to say.

“Back on the planet, I- I didn’t really care about the people that man was taking advantage of. I wanted to care- but I just didn’t. Did Jonah Magnus make me wrong?” He asked his voice barely more then a whisper.

“That man has nothing to do with who you are Jon.” The Doctor replied, ferocious protectiveness colouring the edges of her voice. “And, caring is hard. People, Time Lords, Humans, they aren’t really meant for the big picture. Caring about people is a choice. With the people close to you, it’s an easy choice, it’s one you never even realize you’re making- but caring about strangers, is a choice you have to make everyday.

And it doesn’t make that choice any less meaningful, if it’s a hard one, or if you hesitate. Today, you chose to spare hundreds of people being exposed to those flowers, and you paid a heavy price for it, having to face Magnus alone. Again. But Jon I am so, so proud of you for making that choice. You have been through so much, and maybe caring about people doesn’t come easy to you, but you are trying and that matters Jon. It really does.”

Jon looked down at his cocoa, and gazed out at the stars. He could feel the pride the Doctor was talking about, it’s was like a warm glowing ball between his hearts. He reached up and gently wiped at his eyes. 

“Are we safe here? Outside of the Time Vortex?” He asked after a while, unable to think anymore on what the Doctor had said, without the risk of more tears forming.

“Should be; even from Gallifrey Magnus would have a heck of a time activating nanites like the ones he fitted you with, from a million years in the past, and I very much doubt he would have bothered giving any of them nanites as sophisticated as yours. More likely then not, they won’t be a concern until we are back in his time period.” Jon nodded, relaxing ever so slightly. His default state for the last three years had been panic. Survival mode in an impossible fight, and even now, any time he thought maybe they had a chance, Magnus would show up, and remind him of just how big a task they were facing, taking him out. Jon knew now, how very easy it would be to let Magnus into his mind, and now that Magnus knew about the Marquis, Jon doubted she would be able to force him out alone again. They had had the advantage of distance and surprise on their side before.

“You know you don’t have to go back to face him Jon.” The Doctor said gently. “There’s nothing wrong with just running, I’m sure eventually we can find a way to sever you from the Entities without going through with our plans-“

“No. No, I- even if he didn’t have the Admiral hostage, he’s not going to stop. Even if he gave up on me, and we really could run away, He’s been at this for hundreds of years. He isn’t going to give up until all of Earth is his own personal nightmare kingdom.”

The Doctor sighed.

“You’re probably right.” Jon felt another rush of her pride settle in his chest.

“Once he’s gone though, when this is all over, I haven’t actually asked you yet- will you stay with me? Travel the stars?” Her voice held such unrestrained hope.

“You’re asking me?”

“Of course I’m asking you!”

“I, well considering the situation, I wouldn’t have really thought I would have a choice in the matter, what would you do if I said no?” The Doctor was quiet a moment.

“I’ve been travelling for a long time. I suppose I could take a break for a few hundred years.” Jon felt his eyes grow wet again.

“You would give up travelling? Just because I might want to live like a Human on Earth?”

“Yes.” There was zero hesitation.

“I won’t ask that of you, I would very much like to see the stars. But thank you. The- the choice means a great deal,” the word he used next didn’t translate well into English, it was a word in Gallifreyan that denoted a great deal of respect, and affection, there was thousands of years of cultural significance behind it.

The closest English word however was Mom.

They stayed there for the rest of the night, half finished mugs of cocoa growing cold, watching the stars, and occasional meteorite. The Doctor pointing out specific stars, and places she would take Jon, and if he wanted, Martin someday.

She talked to Jon about civilizations she had saved and people she had met, and Jon listened, and the satisfaction and comfort he felt from learning, had nothing to do with the Beholding. 


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so much longer then usual! We are starting to come up to the end of this story, though I do have sequels and one shots planned! But I’m hoping to wrap everything up in 5 more chapters or less, hard to say for certain though since there is only so much actual planning that goes into this lol.
> 
> Thank you all so much for your encouragements and comments, they have made writing this story one of the best parts of quarantine.

Chapter 28

Morning came and Jon dreaded talking with the others, he was afraid to tell them about his most recent connection with Jonah Magnus, he was afraid to tell them about the Admiral, and he was afraid to find out if Magnus had been telling the truth about one of them having nanites. But Jon had spent most of the last few years afraid, and at least this time he knew he would have support. He could hear the TARDIS singing in his mind, to soothe his anxiety, and the Doctor was an equally solid presence, and of course the Marquis.

As though summoned by his thoughts he felt the little creature collide with his shoulder in a clumsy landing, her mind still cloudy with sleep. He gave her a gentle scratch under the chin as he reached for more Rasian fruit. Hopefully Martin would be up soon, neither Jon nor the Doctor trusted their cooking abilities. Jon could cook a few very specific dishes his grandmother had taught him, but none of those made particularly good breakfast food. Jon just wanted Martin to be awake in general, he would feel much more prepared to tell the others about the Admiral and the possibility of the latest danger presented to them courtesy of Jonah Magnus; if he could have his boyfriend by his side.

However Jon was never that lucky, and the first one to walk through the door was Melanie. She stopped short upon seeing the table, staring at the alien fruit.

“You know that’s emitting a low level of radiation right?”

“Hmm?” Jon said as he broke off another tine.

“Your fruit is radioactive.” She said flatly.

“You can see that?” Jon asked, fascinated. He didn’t know much about Melanie’s new eyes aside from the beams of heat they could apparently emit.

“Yeah, it looks super weird. Is that safe for you to be eating?”

“Yes, it’s, um, from Gallifrey.”

“Right the alien homeworld. Gotcha.” She sat down and reached for some.

“No!” He shouted, and Melanie flinched slightly. “It’s- uh not safe for, um.”

“Humans?” Jon gave her an embarrassed look.

“Yes. That.” Melanie sighed.

“I’m not going to bust your balls about you not being Human Jon. I’ve had a lot of time to think once I got out of the Institute, and while a lot of what happened was Not OK, I really don’t think you had a lot of choice in any of it. And when it came down to it, you gave me an out when I needed one-“ Jon opened his mouth to try and apologize, for, well everything. “And don’t you dare apologize for that!” She cut him off. “Yeah, maybe you got the others out without blinding them, but this was my choice. I got out on my own. That means something. So don’t invalidate my choice by apologizing for it. Besides, now I can make a bag of popcorn just by looking at it- you can’t tell me that isn’t infinitely cooler.”

Jon let out a surprised laugh. He hadn’t even realized how much guilt he had been carrying about Melanie; too much had happened too quickly for him to really spend any time thinking about it.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “I don’t really deserve your forgiveness, but thank you.” Melanie sighed and shook her head.

“Jon, you’re an idiot.” She said fondly.

“Oh- um yes, well I suppose-“

“I just said, that there isn’t really anything to forgive. We were put in an impossible situation. Now, more important question, the little purple gremlin on your shoulder, can I pet it?” Jon looked at the Marquis. “I know it’s rude to ask to pet a service animal, but-“

“No, it’s, it’s fine; here.” Jon said, carefully unwinding her tail from his arm and placing her on the table. Melanie put her hand out and the Marquis sniffed it, then sneezed. Melanie smiled in delight, gently scratching under the little dragon's chin.

“She’s so soft! but I gotta ask, how is your arm not totally destroyed? Those are some wicked looking claws!”

“She’s a lady!” Jon said in mock offence. “She would never claw me like that!” Melanie huffed out a laugh.

“Morning, Melanie.” Martin's voice came from somewhere behind Jon, he turned towards it and was rewarded with a sleepy kiss on his cheek. “Morning Jon, you were up early today.” Martin yawned and went to put the kettle on.

“Oh, I uh didn’t sleep last night.” Jon said absently.

“What!? Why not? What was wrong? I-“

“Oh! No no, nothing like that!” Jon cut Martin off. “It’s um, Time Lords, don’t sleep as much, as um, well...” he trailed off, his eyes drifting from Martin to Melanie.

“You know, I never really saw you two working as a couple- and to be honest I still have no idea why it works but I think I see it now.” She said thoughtfully, popping a sugar cube in her mouth. Jon turned bright red, so did Martin. Both of them glanced at the other to see their response, only to blush even harder and be forced to look away. They were saved from the indignity of having to respond by the mercy of the kettle screaming.

Martin placed the three mugs on the table; made exactly how everyone preferred.

“Thank you Martin.” Jon said unable to stop himself from leaning slightly towards him.

“God you two are disgusting.” Melanie teased.

“Where's the Doctor?” Martin asked Jon ignoring Melanie.

“She’s in the medical bay.” Jon said without hesitation. “Giving Daisy a check up.” He could feel the TARDIS, funnelling power to her experiments, and he could feel her drawing on the TARDIS for her work, which in turn made him feel the TARDIS more deeply which- well it created a strange sort of mental feedback loop.

“So how does that work then? The whole-“ Melanie waved a hand around. “You and her being in each other’s heads. Georgie was telling me about it last night. Like, I just want to know, it’s, willing? I guess like when Elias- Magnus, whatever he’s calling himself, used his wacky mind powers on me-“

“It’s not like that at all.” Jon said firmly.

“Ok. Good.” Melanie said. She didn’t need any more than that, what Magnus had done had been the worst experience of her life. Jon didn’t deserve to live with that in his head forever.

“I would say it’s more like the difference between getting punched in the face and getting hugged.” He added quietly. And yeah, Melanie was starting to see it, the whole ‘kid’ thing. Jon may have been a few years older than her but in that moment he reminded her painfully of her friend's younger brother growing up.

The conversation moved on to lighter topics and Martin got started on some pancakes. As Daisy and Basira slowly filtered in Jon could almost forget his fear, and he let himself enjoy the company. Daisy started to look through the fridge for some kind of acceptable breakfast meat, and triumphantly pulled out a package of back bacon, which she gleefully ripped open with one of her claws. Dumping the mess of raw meat onto a plate and sitting down at the table.

“Did- did you want me to cook that for you?” Martin asked, doing what Jon thought was an admirable job of keeping the disgust out of his voice as Daisy licked the juices from her finger.

“I’m good.” She replied, before looking up and seeing the concerned looks of those around her. “Obligate carnivore now, this is the diet the Doctor ordered.” Was the only explanation she offered. Melanie nodded, seemingly unbothered.

“Want me to warm it up for you?” She asked, barely keeping the glee from her voice. Daisy gave her an appraising look.

“Knock yourself out.” She said sliding the bloody mess in Melanie’s direction. Melanie stares at it. Some of the blood that had pooled on the edges of the plate began to bubble. Melanie blinked.

“Thanks.” Daisy said, sliding the plate back and spearing a piece with her claw.

“Ohh! Are you making pancakes! I love pancakes! Jon! Remind me to take you to the planet where these were invented!” The Doctor breezed in speaking a mile a minute as was her custom. She loved breakfast, and she loved the fact that she didn’t have to cook it even more. The less said about the last time _she_ attempted to make pancakes the better.

“That can’t be real.” Georgie said. “Pancakes were invented on Earth.” The Doctor snorted. Grabbed a chunk of Rasian fruit and a pancake off the stack, and rolled the fruit up into it, pouring syrup on it and taking a bite.

“That’s what you think.” She added, her mouth full. Jon stared at her for a moment, more specifically he stared at the abomination she had created with her pancake, and quickly followed suit. That combination looked delightful. Basira wrinkled her nose at him. Being the only Human of the bunch who had tasted the fruit she nearly gagged thinking about the flavour combination.

Once breakfast was finished and tea had been drunk the Doctor gave Jon a look, and he knew it was time to tell the others about The Admiral.

“Right ok, so I have some bad news.” The Doctor began. “But before I get started, I’d like to remind everyone that this is a time machine, so we don’t need to panic immediately.”

“That is not actually comforting.” Martin said reaching for Jon’s hand under the table.

“While I was in the truck with the flowers, it, it weakened my mental defences. Magnus managed to get through with a message.” The shift in the room was immediate. Everyone tensed and Jon could swear the temperature dropped a few degrees. “Magnus, is a liar, so so it’s entirely possible it was only a mind game but-“ Jon swallowed hard. “But he claims to have taken the Admiral.” The sound of Georgies fist hitting the table made Jon flinch so hard he nearly fell out of his chair, and the Marquis puffed herself up and glared.

“Fuck.” Melanie whispered, softly but with feeling.

“That’s- that’s not all, he, one of you may also have nanites, that he could activate once we go back to his timeline.”

“We know it isn’t Daisy.” The Doctor chimed in. “I tested her this morning. And it’s unlikely to be Georgie, since she had no real contact with the institute.”

“Can’t you just scan us with your sonic thing?” Martin asked, remembering how they learnt about Jon’s nanites.

“I’m afraid not, these would be inactive already, I’d need a blood sample to be able to tell.”

“Well that’s one problem with an easy solution at least.” Melanie said. “How are we going to get the Admiral back?”

“So, remember I said time machine right? So we can jump to the time immediately after Magnus told Jon he had the cat, the plan doesn’t need to change, it just means Martin and Daisy’s part of the plan gets an additional part. We can still make this work, but first we need to know if any of you are carrying sleeper agents in your blood.”

“Fine. But we are taking that rat bastard the fuck out.” Georgie finally said. It took everything in her not to scream at Jon for not telling her immediately. Yes there had been a lot of things going on, but it was her Cat! But as angry as she was, Jon didn’t take her cat, and the Doctor was right, this being a time machine negated a lot of the urgency in him telling her. She was still mad though. Melanie squeezed her knee under the table, tapping out a code they had developed when she had first lost her sight. Georgie took a deep breath. And tried to keep calm. Jonah Magnus needed to die.

***

“Ok, so it looks like all of you are clear, which just leaves-“

“Me.” Martin said, interrupting the Doctor. She gave him a sad smile. “I knew those drug tests Peter kept making me do were bullshit.” Martin had never heard of a drug test that required you to be injected with a needle before they drew blood, but at the time he had other concerns.

“I’m afraid so.” Jon squeezes Martin’s hand. “It’s strange though, the nanites in your blood were designed for Humans, 100% meant to mimic existing cells in the human body when activated, but they didn’t quite mesh properly with your cells. Probably a genetic mutation or something, happens all the time with Humans, it’s what makes this type of nanite so unreliable. Still it’s odd he wouldn’t have thought of that.” The Doctor looked as though she was fully prepared to continue ranting about Human genetics and inferior nanite technology.

“What can we do about it?” Jon interrupted.

“Well that’s the thing, they aren’t active, so there’s nothing for me to deactivate. But!” She added when she saw their faces start to fall. “I can make a device that will prevent Magnus from activating them, fit it into a bracelet or something.”

“What were they meant to do?” Martin asked.

“Hard to say, it looks like these ones might be programmed to activate latent DNA strands, or possibly they might be designed to cause massive genetic collapse, it’s hard to say, these must be something Magnus designed personally. But he used Gallifreyan technology, so blocking it will take the same. Luckily for us, there is plenty in the TARDIS that we can use to scavenge something together.”

“Aside from this roadblock, do we need anything else to take Magnus down?” Basira asked. The Doctor shook her head.

“I don’t think so no. This should be finished by tonight, so first thing tomorrow, we take on Jonah Magnus.”


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, this chapter was a doozy to write! But there should only be two more after this! But not to worry I do have a sequel planned!
> 
> Thank you all so much for your support with this story it really has meant so much! I would love to hear your guys’ thoughts on this latest chapter, I was a bit nervous writing so many different perspectives, anyway, enjoy!!

Chapter 29

Melanie was walking though what appeared to be for all intents and purposes a rather swanky looking apartment building. Every once in a while the scanner in her hands would beep and she would pause and take what looked like an Easter egg out of her backpack, and place it on the ground. 

Melanie was working very hard to convince herself that what she was seeing was absolutely what was happening. There was absolutely no way that she was actually deep under the Magnus institute placing charges in the tunnels. Nope. She was planting eggs for an Easter egg hunt in a fancy apartment in downtown London. 

The illusion really was very convincing. Melanie did sort of wish she could have company for this, but she knew that having anyone else there was a pretty big risk, that if Magnus went looking he might catch on to what they were doing. 

She did think briefly of Helen; her doors were presumably in these endless winding tunne- apartment building halls somewhere. She tried to put it out of her mind. For all that Helen was undoubtably evil, Melanie had liked her. She was funny, and she had been a great help when the flesh had attacked. But she understood why the others didn’t want her involved. Helen was an Avatar of lies and madness, not the sort of being to rely on with super secret plans like these. Nope, best to stick to exactly what was discussed. The scanner beeped. Melanie placed another ‘egg’ on the floor. 

***

Basira pulled the fire alarm. Honestly evacuating buildings was so much easier when all you had to do was pull the alarm. The fire department had been notified a few hours prior of the “drill” the Magnus Institute was having so it was a simple thing to clear the building with limited risk to bystanders. 

Georgie set the first charge in Magnus’s office right under the overly pompous portrait of the “beloved founder” 

“He’s on his way to you.” Came Daisy’s voice over their headsets. Which meant that Georgie and Basira had about 15 minutes to lay their charges and clear out in the time it took Magnus to speed over from his residence. Maybe it was petty, but Georgie took great satisfaction in wasting one of those minutes scribbling on the portrait of Jonah Magnus in lime green sharpie. 

***

“So, you and Jon, huh?” Daisy asked Martin as she casually kicked in the door to Magnus’s home. 

“Daisy is this really the best time to discuss this?” Martin asked incredulously. Pushing past her into the empty house. According to the life signs detector the Admiral should be somewhere below them. It figured Magnus probably had some messed up torture dungeon down there. Martin actively ignored the hat he knew was Peter’s still hanging on the coat rack. Didn’t want to touch those implications with a two meter pole. 

“Sure it is! I think this is the first time I’ve ever been alone with you,” she said playfully shoving Martin to the side a little and scenting the air. 

“What does that have to do with anything?” Martin muttered as he made his way towards what would undoubtably be a superbly creepy basement. 

“Well no chance for Jon to overhear for one thing.” That didn’t exactly sound like a good thing. 

“Wait are you trying to give me the shovel talk???” Martin asked, so surprised now that he actually paused to look at her. She was serious. “Is this really the time? Or place??” Daisy shrugged. 

“Our lives are weird, you have to take opportunities when they are provided.” Martin stared at her for another moment before shaking his head and going back to the task of finding the wayward cat. “But yeah, shovel talk. As Jon’s self declared big sister, you hurt him, I hurt you. Jon’s been through a lot of shit, and I remember how much it destroyed him when you were working with Lukas.”

Martin winced a little at the last comment, it was fair but harsh. Which Martin supposed was why Daisy and Jon got on so well, there was never any beating around the bush with them. Both were very direct. 

“I’ll remind you that you tried to  kill  Jon a few times yourself.”

“Hmm” Daisy agreed. “True.” Martin thought she planned to say more, but apparently not. He got a strange feeling that he had passed some kind of test somehow. 

It didn’t matter much though because now they had reached the basement proper. It wasn’t at all what Martin had been expecting. It was well lit and as tastefully furnished as the rest of the house. There was a pool table that looked as though it had never been used, and a dart board that appeared much the same. 

“Creepy.” Daisy said upon viewing the room. “Looks like one of those empty show home catalogues.” Martin couldn’t help but agree. However, there against the far wall was a cat carrier. And a very unhappy-looking cat mewling angrily at his confinement. 

“Right, let’s get the cat and get out of here.” Martin said, anxiously playing with the bracelet the Doctor had provided him the night before. It was sort of heavy and Martin had never really been one for jewellery, so it felt wrong and he struggled to ignore it. Jon had pressed a kiss to it that morning though, having come back from his nightly wandering to hold Martin as he woke up. It may take Martin a while to get used to the fact that his boyfriend apparently no longer really needed sleep in the same way he did, but it touched him deeply to know that it was still important to Jon to be there when he woke up. 

“Got him.” Daisy said scooping up the cat carrier. The cat inside was deeply displeased by this turn of events. He sensed the fellow predator in Daisy and wasn’t thrilled to be swung around in the carrier, but the priority was to get him safe. 

“Ok, get him into the car, I’ll get to work with the matches.” Martin said. 

***

When Jon kissed Martin goodbye that morning he thought he would spend the entire time apart worried sick. He was glad to realize that he really didn’t have time to worry- he suspected the Doctor had planned it this way on purpose, not that he was going to complain about it of course. 

The problem was, if they killed Jonah Magnus, maybe it would stick, maybe he would regenerate. They had no way of knowing what being bound to the Eye for so long had done to his regenerative abilities, not to mention their ability to kill him in the first place. Even before the Chameleon Arch had broken for Jon, back when he was still mostly Human, he had survived things there was no way he should have been able to survive. Even just the burning on his hand from Jude Perry should have require skin grafts and months of rehabilitation to regain any kind of function, but it had healed fine with some polysporin and bandaids, albeit with significant scarring. 

Which left them with one option, if they couldn’t kill Jonah Magnus; they needed to trap him in in such a way that he couldn’t reach anyone. Thankfully, the time vortex would be a perfect such place. Use the TARDIS to open up a convenient gap in reality, and push Magnus in as they blew up the Institute. Simple. 

Setting it up however was not so simple. There was approximately 800 different safety protocols in the TARDIS that they needed to come up with work arounds for. And while the TARDIS was semi sentient, there was only so much the ship could do to assist against her own programming. Which meant manual overrides and a great deal of work for Jon and the Doctor. It was working though. They were getting close to finishing and there was real hope beginning to build that this might actually work. 

The Doctors phone was ringing. She answered it on speaker, knowing Jon would be anxious enough that he’d try to listen in on the call in her mind if she didn’t. It put a fond smile on her face. 

“Georgie! What can I do for you?”

“Doctor I think we might have a problem. Magnus never showed. We are out of the Institute and heading to the rendezvous point, we have Melanie, but-“ the phone beeped. 

“Hang on I’ve got another call coming in.” The Doctor switched the line. “Daisy what’s happening?” 

“It’s Martin. I think Magnus has him. I got the Admiral out but when I went back into the house to help Martin burn the place down he was gone. The whole basement smelt like apricot and Martin’s bracelet was on the floor.”

“Local teleport.” The Doctor said smacking herself in the forehead for not thinking of it sooner. Nothing else would smell like apricot but a home made teleport. She had underestimated Magnus and now Martin was paying the price. She felt Jon’s anxiety and panic spike- so potent she felt her own hearts begin to race too. The phone beeped again. “Head to the rendezvous point Daisy we’ll meet you there, I have another call.”

“Hello Jon.” Jon’s blood turned to ice and the Marquis wrapping herself around his thoughts was little comfort with that voice ringing in his ears. “I must admit I’m impressed. But let’s not play any more silly games. Come to Hilltop Road. You know the place- alone.” 

“ What have you done to Martin .” Jon poured every ounce of compulsion he could into it, not from the Eye, but from him. He felt the mental shields keeping him safe waver with the strength of the telepathic demand. 

“Very good Jon!” Magnus laughed. “Martin has some very interesting ancestors. Ones that don’t mess very well with humanity. My nanites are simply activating the left overs of some of those ancestors. The results can be, hmm, well unpleasant. Here-“ there was the sound of shuffling as Magnus switched the phone to speaker and Jon could hear Martin struggling not to scream. 

“I’m coming for you Martin! Just hang on!” He shouted.

“That’s sweet.” Magnus said as the sound of Martin’s pained cries abruptly silenced. “You have one hour. Hilltop road. Or I let the nanites finish the job, and Jon, I shouldn’t need to tell you that Martin’s body at war with itself, attacking itself as it rewrites it’s very DNA, well I don’t actually know if he’ll make it the full hour.” The phone clicked off. 

The Doctor scrambled to punch in the coordinates for hilltop road on the TARDIS, only for error message after error message to flash across the screen. 

“Jon I can’t bring the TARDIS anywhere close to there, the entire area is temporally unstable. The nearest I can get is nearly two blocks away.” Jon nodded, panic giving way to a numb focus. 

“If we cant open a door to push Magnus through with the TARDIS- is there any way- the entities, if I open that path, could I close the door again?” The Doctor looked at Jon with horror in her eyes, he knew it was not a fear of him but for him. 

“I don’t know- Jon it’s too risky, we barely managed to stop it the first time and there was no where near the level of interference that Hilltop road has.” Jon nodded again. 

“Right.” An idea was forming. It was not a good idea, but he didn’t have time to come up with a good idea, not with Martin in such danger. He grabbed the phone and switched the call back to Georgie’s phone. 

“Georgie. I need to speak to Melanie.” There was a brief moment of shuffling. 

“Jon?” 

“I need you to go back into the Institute. Magnus has Martin. I have an idea, but we’ll need Helen’s help.” 

“That won’t be necessary, Jon, a yellow door just appeared in that alleyway- god that hurts to look at now.” Melanie couldn’t get her eyes to focus on it. It was so wrong. But hearing the urgency in Jon’s voice she went up to the door anyway and knocked. Helen answered. Melanie snapped her eyes shut to avoid seeing her. It was too painful. “Phone for you Helen.” She said holding it out, and trying not to flinch when Helens overly long fingers picked it up. Georgie pulled her back from the door immediately. 

“Hello Archivist!” Helen said joyfully. 

“Helen, I need your help.” 

“Why should I help you Jon? You weren’t very nice to me the last time we spoke.” Jon but back a moan of frustration. 

“Because if you help, I promise you’ll get the most interesting new tenant for your hallways.”

“I’m listening.” So Jon began to speak. The Doctor was not a fan of Jon’s plan but couldn’t see a better way, so she focused on piloting the ship to pick up the others. Best to have them safe- the fewer of their people outside the less chance that this could go wrong. And it was very likely to go wrong. 

“Ok Jon. I’ll help.” Helen said. “But it will have to be now. Time is, difficult.” 

The TARDIS landed and doors flew open, Basira, Georgie, and Melanie streamed in, Jon ran out. The Doctor caught the plan in his mind just a second too late. 

She tried to chase after him, but by the time she got outside all she could see was a yellow door that was wrong in every way possible as it closed. 


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I was super worried about this chapter cuz a lot happens. So I really hope I managed to explain everything alright. We are getting so close to the end of this one folks!
> 
> Thank you all so much those who have supported me with your amazing comments and thank you to everyone who’s read it in general with out all your support this wouldn’t be here.

Chapter 30

Everything about the hallways hurt. Jon shut his eyes to block it out but it made no difference. The protection he had from the Entities provided by the Doctor and the TARDIS was gone. All he had now was the Marquis, and while she was fighting valiantly under the weight of it, being essentially inside one of the Entities was proving to be too much even for her. 

Jon was terrified if he spoke he would somehow open the door once again, but he didn’t have time to be afraid. Martin’s screams were echoing in his ears. 

“Helen I need to get to Hilltop Road.”

“Why would I do that Jon, you won’t even look me in the eye!” Helen said, and Jon could hear hundreds of layers to her voice, and it tore at his mind. He opened his eyes. There was no Helen, no hallways, only fractals and impossible shapes. Helen laughed. 

“Alright Jon. I’ll take you to hilltop road, but only because I like Martin.” Jon didn’t ask how she knew Martin was in danger. He didn’t want to know. He could feel the knowledge pushing at his mind regardless. 

He didn’t move. The world moved around him. It was not a world. There was a door. It was not a door. Jon grabbed at it, tumbling out onto the grass. Barely managing to avoid throwing up from the disorientation. 

“Is that how you say thank you for helping you out?” Helen asked with a laugh that Jon could somehow smell rather then hear. 

“Thank you Helen.” Jon bit our through clenched teeth, his head still spinning. The Marquis was trembling and Jon had to gently take her off his shoulder- scared she would fall. He tucked her out of sight into the sleeve of his coat. “The plan stays the same from here out.” He added. Already regretting everything he had come up with. 

He wanted to reach out for the Doctor, but after spending time in Helens ‘hallways’ he didn’t think he had the energy to try. He could feel her though, but she was distant. He needed to get to Martin. He had been dropped him off directly in front of the house, so he didn’t have long to steel himself before he was opening the door. 

“Hello Jon.” As Jon stepped inside he could feel his connection to the Doctor and the TARDIS fraying. It was there but it was as though there was a wall of glass between it. He was alone. Cut off. The Marquis squeezed his forearm from her place hidden in his sleeve. 

“Jonah.” Magnus looked at Jon’s jacket with utter contempt. 

“Well. I suppose that explains how you’ve been blocking me. A bit base though Jon. Going and attaching yourself to the first Time Lord you find like some kind of filthy stray kitten.” He sighed. “I wish I could say I was surprised Jon, but you always were a bit pathetic.”

“ _Where’s_ _Martin_. ” Jon demanded throwing all the force he could behind it. Magnus laughed. 

“You are good at that aren’t you? I truly look forward to watching you develop you telepathy Jon. After I kill the- the Doctor was it?” Magnus glanced again at the writing on Jon’s coat. “Yes once I kill the Doctor. Oh you’ll thank me for it later. It’s just hard to think clearly right now with so many people in your head I’m sure.” 

Jon was not unused to people being condescending. But it felt like a new low to hear it coming from Magnus- and about there being too many people in Jon’s head- as if the man hadn’t ensured 14 fear entities had their place there. Jon opened his mouth to ask again. 

“Martin is downstairs. Come alone, I imagine you won’t be much use in conversation before you see him anyway.” He turned and began walking towards the basement. Jon wished he has some kind of weapon to bludgeon the mans head in, but he knew even if he did he wouldn’t be able to do it. He could feel Magnus caressing the edges of his mind. And he knew it wouldn’t take much for the man to push through Jon’s already weakened defences. He desperately wanted to stroke the Marquis but he didn’t want to risk exposing her to Magnus. Oh Jon had no doubts the man knew about her, but out of sight at least meant that he could sort of protect her. 

“I don’t really see why your so worried about one human. You know you’re going to outlive them all by centuries.” Jon clenched his fists. He had been actively not thinking about that. He put his hands in his coat pockets to try and force some semblance of control back. He needed to keep his wits about him. His fingers came across a single flower. He vaguely recalled having found it stuck to his shoe after they had gotten back to the TARDIS and shoved it in his pocket to deal with later. 

“But no matter I am not a needlessly cruel man Jon, and I’ve always thought it was a good idea for children to have pets.” Jon clenched his teeth together. They reached the bottom of the stairs and Jon could feel his hearts pounding in his chest as he fought to control his breathing. Every inch of the place was covered in web. But Jon thought his hearts might have stopped all together when he saw Martin on the ground at the other end of the basement. 

Martin wasn’t moving. But Jon could hear his faint whimpers. He ran past Magnus and to Martins side. 

“Martin?! Martin I’m here!” Martins brow is creased in pain and there are green veins that seem to be moving out from Martin’s heart creeping up his neck and down his arms. 

“Jon? Jon! No get out of here! Magnus-“

“You see Jon? Still alive. It turns out Martin here had a relative a few generations back, some alien DNA hidden away in there. The nanites are simply activating it and converting some of that troublesome Human DNA. The trouble is, it’s a very painful process. Hybrids are always so delicate. If it doesn’t stop soon I don’t know if Martin will survive it. Not very comparable species I’m afraid. It’s a miracle his ancestor was able to successfully reproduce at all! Though I suppose I should be surprised. You know how humans are.” Magnus laughed. Jon clutched at Martin. Pulling him tightly to his body. And quietly whispering his half formed escape plan into Martin’s ear. Hoping that Magnus was too distracted by the monologuing to notice. He slipped a cell phone into Martins hand, quickly hitting the call button and mute. 

“Now, what I want is very simple Jon. Finish opening the door, and I’ll save Martin. You haven’t had a statement in a long time.” Magnus held up a single sheet of paper. Jon tensed. He _hadn’t_ had a statement in a long time, and with everything that had happened, and now without the protection of the TARDIS or the Doctor he was ravenous. He could feel the power of the statement in Magnus’s hand. “The Mother of Puppets sent her blessing. This one was written by Annabelle Caine. All you have to do is read it Jon. The second you begin I’ll deactivate the nanites and Martin will live, we’ll after some careful medical treatment he will anyway. But my TARDIS in the panopticon should still have what we need to treat him.” Jon turned fully to face Magnus hearts once again threatening to pound out of his chest. The statement in Magnus’ hand the only thing his eyes seemed able to focus on. 

“I must say though Jon your plan was impressive. Having Georgie and Basira set charges in my Institute, but not in the tunnels. Keeping me alive in the Panopticon in hopes it would keep those tied to the Institute alive. It was a cleaver plan. And of course use the distraction to save your feline friend. It was a good plan. I’m sure you had an equally clever way to kill me once you had me where you wanted me.” Jon nearly cried in relief. Magnus didn’t know about the charges in the tunnels. They might still be able to win. But he couldn’t focus on that news. His mind burned with the need to read that statement. His plan beginning to take its final shape in his mind. He really really hoped this was going to work. 

Magnus held the statement out and Jon struggled to his feet. He took it with hands that shook and cleared his throat as his eyes landed about the first word. 

“Statement of Annabelle Cain, regarding the end of the world. Statement gifted to Jonahitmarmagnisa, Jonah Magnus, current alias Elias Bouchard, statement begins. 

Hello Jon, the Mother of Puppets sends her regards. This will be brief. There is no need to feed your god any more then you are about to feed it anyway. This house, this basement is a thin spot in reality, it has been tied together by many generations of spiders. And shall continue to be held together even after this is all over.” Jon couldn’t be certain, as the spiders had never been clear on anything. But Jon almost felt a moment of hope. 

“No need to drag this out further. Repeat after me Jon. 

You who watch and know and understand none.” Jon watched out of the corner of his eye as Jonah hit a button on a switch and Martin sighed in relief.

“You who listen and hear and will not comprehend. You who wait and wait and drink in all that is not yours by right.” Jon spotted a yellow door just behind Magnus. But for once the mans Full attention was focused and all of it on Jon. He did not hear the gentle creak as it swung open. He did not see as Martin shakily pulled himself up to standing. 

“Come to us in your wholeness.

Come to us in your perfection.” Jon reaches into his pocket his fingers wrapping around the flower. He pulled his hand out threw his arm out towards Magnus the flower landing directly In his face. Causing the man to cough and stumble back. 

“Freeze!” Martin shouted playing out his part of the plan to the best of his abilities. Magnus stood stock still and Martin lunges for him pushing him into the hallway beyond the door.

“Bring all that is fear and all that is terror” Jon followed after Magnus as he read. 

“and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists” Martin ran after Jon. Pausing before the threshold for a moment. 

“Blow the charges now!” He yelled into the phone before running after Jon and Magnus once more entering the Spirals domain. 

“and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and leads and dies!” There was no doors in the hallways this time. No mirrors either. But no, that wasn’t true, Martin could see a door, right behind Magnus, who seemed to had shaken off the effects of the flower and was looking around in panic the horror of the spiral to the eyes of an Avatar it the Beholding and a psychic being obviously effecting him as badly as it had Jon. 

“Come to us.” Martin could see the door fully behind Magnus now. He thought he understood what Jon meant now. 

I – OPEN –  THE DOOR !” Martin moved fast pushing Jon back and shoving Magnus as hard as he could. Magnus stumbled back and had just enough time to let out a breath in surprise as he fell, into the realm of nightmares and fear he himself so desperately wanted to bring to the world. The Marquis, sensing the distraction of the beings attached to Jon’s mind did what a psychic guard animal is meant told and viciously severed the ties binding Jon in their moment of weakness. 

The door was open now Martin thought with horror. And it was creaking open wider by the second. Martin tried to move himself in front of Jon. 

A set of creepy, but familiar fingers curled around the door. 

“Opening a door like that in my hallways Archivist? That’s very rude. Doorways are my thing! And I don’t need any of the Others here!” Helen complained as she stepped through and the door vanished behind her. 

“Hi Helen.” Jon spat out, and some blood along with it, he had needed to time the reading correctly and had bitten his tongue multiple times to slow his pace. 

“You promised me a new tenant, but you sent him away. That wasn’t very fair. Oh hello Martin. I like the green. It’s a good look.”

“Oh um thanks. It’s good to see you Helen.” Martin tried. 

“Martin I like you, so how about this. Neither of you are marked by any of the entities right now, which makes you very tempting targets. But rather then that, I’ll let you go if you can find you way out!”

“I don’t suppose you’ll just let us out in general?” Martin asked his voice trembled slightly and Helen smiled. 

“No, but I’ll give you a fair chance!” Helen said. “It’s not like you can die in my hallways unless I let you anyway!” She added with a smile. “Good luck!” She stepped through a different door and suddenly the hall was filled with them. To Martins eyes at least. Jon had his eyes firmly shut and he had fallen to his knees at some point. He was breathing heavily. 

“Jon are you alright?” 

“I’m alright Martin.” Martin knelt down beside Jon pulling him into a tight hug. He didn’t know how they were going to get out of there, but he knew two things for certain. They were together. And Jonah Magnus was trapped in a hellscape of his own worst nightmares. Forever tormented in the same way he so desperately wanted to torment others. 

Martin leaned down and gently pressed a kiss to the top of Jon’s head. 


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well folks we did it. Over 60k words later, we finally have an ending. I do have multiple one shots planned for this series though and a sequel is already in the works! Let me know what you guys want to see more of, either in the comments or hit me up on tumblr @nireidi
> 
> This would never have been possible without the support of your comments, and I can’t thank you all enough, from the fan art, to the amazing reviews, you guys made this possible.

“The nanites- Martin, are you in pain?!” Jon let out in panic the second the thought occurred to him. 

“I’m fine Jon, I think I could be bleeding out and here in the hallways at least I’d still feel fine.”

“Right. Right, wouldn’t be a very effective fear of madness if you could bleed out and escape to the End,” Jon said with a shuddering breath. The Marquis had wrapped herself around Jon’s head, her tail sitting directly over his eyes, to help block out the impossible landscape of the hallways. Martin didn’t think they looked any different from how they always had, but Jon seemed to be really struggling. Martin had taken his arm to help guide Jon, but Jon had quickly used it as an excuse to hold Martins hand instead. 

“Martin, I don’t know how to get us out of this.” Jon said helplessly after a while. 

“What do you mean?” Martin asked. He was not immediately worried about that. He didn’t think Helen would make it easy for them, but he also didn’t think she would actually kill them. He figured this was her version of playing. Besides, it was still far less stressful being here than it had been when Magnus had gotten ahold of him. Martin scratched self consciously at the green veins running up the length of his arms. 

“My connection to the Eye- it’s gone. I can’t feel it anymore. I can’t use it to Know the way out. And my anchor, well it’s right here with me.” Jon squeezed Martins hand, and Martin felt a burst of warmth settle in his chest. 

“Even if we never get out it was still worth it.” Martin said firmly. “The Institute is gone, and you aren’t the Archivist anymore. That’s not a bad thing Jon. Even if we wander these hallways forever, at least we are together.” Jon winced a little at that, Magnus’ words about Martin’s life span playing over and over in his mind. He gripped Martin’s hand tighter. 

“Do you still have your connection to the Doctor? Or the ship?” Martin asked after a while. “Maybe the Doctor will be able to provide a rescue?” It was a slim hope, but Martin felt it was important to remain positive. 

“No, I can’t feel her or the TARDIS in here, just the Marquis.” She trilled weakly at the sound of her name. The poor creature was exhausted after everything and Jon reached up to stoke the end of her tail, trying to offer comfort. He could feel her relax the tiniest bit. 

“Don’t suppose you can try and use your rib as an anchor,” Martin said with an ironic laugh. 

“No, no I’m afraid not. If I’m being honest when I was in the Choke, I stopped feeling my connection to my rib not long after I entered the coffin.” Martin was trying not to show it but the mirrors more than anything were really starting to get to him. The deep green veins seemed to stem out from his heart. They hadn’t quite reached his face, though they decorated his neck and the edges of his jaw. He didn’t know what it meant, and he was afraid of what might happen if they did get out of the hallways. Would he even survive? Magnus had certainly enjoyed gloating over Martin about exactly what the nanites were doing to him. And the things Magnus had been saying weren’t encouraging. 

Of course there was the possibility he had been lying, but that didn’t really fit. Magnus much preferred that his victims bore witness to the horrible truth. And the truth as he had told Martin was, that without proper medical intervention, he wasn’t likely to live long. Martin didn’t want to worry Jon though. Jon looked as though he was barely holding it together. 

“What do you see when you look at the hallways that’s so bad?” Martin asked after a while. Unsure if he actually wanted to know.

“There aren’t any hallways Martin.” Was all Jon would say, and Martin was quite sure now that he didn’t want to know. 

“Jon, if I had stayed outside, if I hadn’t followed you in, do you think you could have found your way out?” 

“Yes.” Jon said without hesitation. “I will always find you Martin.” Feelings of guilt and affection fought for dominance in Martin’s heart. “But I also don’t think I would have survived if you hadn’t followed me. I don’t know if I would have had the strength to push Magnus.” This part was whispered. A confession seeped in shame and self-loathing. 

“Jon, Jonah Magnus was a horrible, horrible man, but you don’t need to feel guilty about not being able to kill your own father.” Jon didn’t say anything, so Martin knew he was on the right track. “Jonah Magnus deserves what he got. Don’t let his final act be to weigh on your conscience for not being the one to push him into a hellscape of monsters. Neither one of us was strong enough to beat him on our own. That’s why we have each other.” Jon was crying now, he stopped walking and curled himself into Martins arms. And they just held each other a while. 

“Jon, this is probably a dumb question, but you and I don’t have a psychic connection, right?” They had started walking again, and despite the Marquis covering Jon’s eyes, he still managed a valiant attempt at giving Martin an incredulous look. 

“No Martin we don’t have a psychic connection.” And Martin couldn’t help the laugh that came with that. Jon sounded exactly like he had when they had first started in the archives. 

“Right, so, if I was your anchor in the buried, without a psychic connection-“

“Oh. Oh! You think I- hold on.” It had taken a moment for what Martin was saying to sink in. But now that it had, Jon couldn’t believe he had been so stupid. The Eye had been part of his escape from the Buried of course, but more of it had been having someone to want to escape to. Jon had never thought there could be more than one person in his life that he would want to escape to. But he had a family now didn’t he? 

Jon didn’t waste any more time. He focused on the Doctor, on the memory of his adoption, on the pride she had felt when he wore the coat with her name in Galifreyan- on the first time he called her Mom. 

Jon pulled Martin along as he navigated the space that wasn’t a hallway. Until- there, before them was a door. A door that was actually a door. Jon reached out and opened it. He could feel the warmth of the sunshine and he pulled Martin out, stumbling as the Marquis moved back onto his shoulder, uncovering his eyes. 

“Well I wish you two crazy kids good luck!” They heard Helen say as the door slammed shut behind them. Jon began to laugh. 

He could feel his connection to the Doctor once again. Her love and panic filled his head and he knew she was on her way. Jon had a moment of pure joy, until he looked over to tell Martin that the Doctor was on her way, and realized that Martin looked on the verge of collapse. The stasis effect of the hallways was no longer stabilizing Martin’s condition. Martin sank to his knees. 

Jon sent his own panic back to the Doctor and sat down on the ground, pulling Martin close, and hoping help came in time. 

***

When Martin woke up it was to the familiar ceiling of the TARDIS medical bay, and the comfortable feeling of Jon’s hand in his. 

“Martin?” He blinked a few times trying to clear the sleep from his eyes. He turned to see Jon. His eyes were red, but had filled with hope, and upon making eye contact, love. 

“Jon? What, what happened?” Martin sat up. He felt good. Better then he ever had really. “After we got out of the hallways I mean.” He looked down at their hands, and saw with growing alarm that the thick green veins were still very much present.

“Right, well, um. The Doctor came and got us, not long after we got out.” Jon seemed reluctant to say more. 

“Jon I can see that I’m still green. What happened?” 

“So it turns out I’m not the only alien?” Jon offered, apprehension dripping from his voice. 

“Martin, you’re awake!” At the sound of the Doctor’s voice Jon seemed to deflate with relief. “How are you feeling?”

“Good, but, what happened? Why am I still all- veiny?” The Doctor clapped her hands together.

“Right, so it turns out, somewhere down the line someone in your family wasn’t from Earth. They were from a planet called Syrell. Now this was probably at least three generations back, and Syrellians tend not to pass racial traits along to hybrid children, so that DNA was just sort of floating in the background of your genetic structure.”

“Huh.” Martin didn’t really have much else to add beyond that. 

“This is pretty normal for Syrellians, they are a hyper-adaptable species, and even full blooded Syrellians have different genetic blueprints that can activate should their environment change. Sort of like, genetic chameleons. However since you are still 80% human, the process when activated is incredibly painful. Which is what Magnus did with the Nanites. He activated your genetic inheritance, as it were.”

“So, why am I still green then?” Martin asked. His head spinning. 

“Syrellians are a plant based life form. The green is chlorophyll.” 

“How- my ancestor, if they were green how did they- no, wait if they-“ Martin couldn’t even figure out how to ask the question. If his alien ancestor was a green plant creature, how on earth had they not been taken by the government or at least ended up in some kind of zoo. 

“They probably had a perception filter.” The Doctor answered, clearly understanding what Martin was trying to ask. 

“So, what does this mean for me?”

“Well you’re stabilized now. I’m afraid I can do much about the veins, aside from a perception filter of your own. You'll need to get plenty of sunlight, and lots of water. Time will tell what other traits you may have picked up, but you are going to live a very long and healthy life.” Martin looked at Jon who was smiling. Martin smiled back. 

***

It was a few days later when Martin was getting dressed that he noticed the first flower. Right above his left ear. He poked at it. It felt no different from poking at his hair. Martin shrugged. In the grand scheme of things flowers growing from his hair wasn’t really all that panic worthy. He pulled on a turtle neck jumper that managed to hide the majority of the green marks, then since they were going out, added a sharp looking deep green blazer, his hope was that it would make the green of his skin less noticeable. 

They were meeting up with Georgie, Melanie, Basira and Daisy- a sort of, we saved the world party, and Martin was still a bit nervous about going out in public with his newfound alien status. 

“Are you almost ready Martin?” Jon asked coming out of the bathroom. He smiled when he saw the flower and pulled Martin down to kiss it. Martin’s anxiety began to melt away. 

“Yeah, I think I’m good.” He held his arms out and gave a spin for Jon’s inspection. Jon looked at him with an appraising eye, and smiled. 

“Just missing one thing.” He reached into his pocket. Then kept reaching. When he was elbow deep he smiled and removed his hand. Pulling a small velvet bag out. He opened it to reveal a pin, with Gallifreyan characters. He fastened it to Martin’s lapel. “It’s a family crest.” Jon explained. His face red, but eyes full of love. Martin beamed. They walked out of their room together, hand in hand. The Marquis tucked safely into one of Jon’s sleeves. 

“You two ready to go?” The Doctor asked, smiling when she saw the silver pin. They nodded, and it was with smiles and joy that the small family left the TARDIS.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Talkin Bout Regeneration](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23366365) by [TheVioletSunflower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVioletSunflower/pseuds/TheVioletSunflower)
  * [The Clinic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23403250) by [TheVioletSunflower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVioletSunflower/pseuds/TheVioletSunflower)
  * [Euphoria](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23434711) by [TheVioletSunflower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVioletSunflower/pseuds/TheVioletSunflower)




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